Commentators this week have been worrying that between Syria, the debt ceiling, budget negotiations, and other issues this fall, immigration reform–which Congress and the Republican Party desperately need to pass–has fallen by the wayside.
This week, more than 100 businesses–among them some of the nation’s largest companies–have sent a letter telling the House not to drop the ball on immigration reform.
The letter is addressed to Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and asks Congress to “enact legislation to fix the broken immigration system and work with the Senate to ensure that a bill is signed by the president this year.” It is signed by leaders from companies including Motorola Solutions, Verizon and AT&T, Procter & Gamble, CVS Caremark Corporation, American Express, Allstate Insurance, The Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, American Airlines, 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company.
According to the New York Times, the executives signed the letter by name, a departure from many business letters which are signed by companies but not individual leaders.
This week’s letter is similar to one that the US Chamber of Commerce released earlier this summer, where more than 450 companies and business groups asked Congress to pass immigration reform this year. Business groups are a key plank is a broad coalition of Americans supporting immigration reform, along with labor groups, faith organizations, civil rights associations, Latino groups, conservative economists, farmers and the agricultural sector, and many, many others.
(Compare that to the opposition against immigration reform, which basically just consists of this guy.)
