FAIR Immigration Blueprint for the American Worker: Needed Overhauls to Immigration Policies in the Face of the COVID-19 Crisis

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Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

Oct 06, 2020, 10:25 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As American workers are reeling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, important and permanent changes to immigration and guest worker policies will be necessary to help them recover from this crisis. In a newly released report, Immigration Reform Blueprint for the American Worker, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) lays out a detailed list of reforms to immigration policies that would aid struggling and unemployed Americans regain lost ground.

The report examines the impact of all forms of immigration on American workers – illegal immigration, ill-conceived and excessive legal immigration, and a host of guest worker programs – and offers needed reforms to ensure that they serve the best interests of the nation and American workers.

"It has been evident for a long time that U.S. immigration policies serve no identifiable public interests, and in fact undermine the core interests of many Americans," noted Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The economic crisis touched off by COVID-19 has elevated the need for a comprehensive overhaul of all aspects of immigration policy from urgent to imperative. Immigration Reform Blueprint for the American Worker, as its title suggests, does just that. It examines every aspect of our policies and provides commonsense reforms that can and should be adopted."

The report looks at how illegal immigration, family chain legal immigration, and a long list of guest worker programs affects American workers and what changes are needed to best protect their interests. Among the key findings and recommendations of the report:

Illegal immigration. Illegal aliens fill some seven million U.S. jobs at a time when tens of millions of American are out of work. The report recommends continuation of workplace enforcement initiated by the Trump administration and adoption of mandatory use of E-Verify by all U.S. employers.
Legal immigration. Legal immigration is both excessive – at more than a million new admissions each year – and poorly conceived, with the vast majority of new immigrants admitted without regard to education and job skills. Young Americans reaching working age combined with large scale immigration means that our economy will need to create 150,000 new jobs a month just to maintain the status quo. The report recommends adoption of a merit-based immigration system and significant reductions in overall immigration.
Guest worker programs. The report finds that a range of guest worker programs covering skilled and low-skilled jobs are being massively abused in a way that displaces many American workers and drives down wages for others. The report recommends that some of these programs be reformed to ensure that they are used only to allow American businesses to access essential workers whose skills are not easily replicated by workers already here, and that other programs be scrapped entirely.

"Current circumstances drive home the imperative to have an immigration policy that is designed and enforced with the interests of American workers as paramount. Whatever the outcome of the election, the next administration and the next Congress will be faced with the economic and fiscal realities brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. Fixing our broken immigration system will not ameliorate all of the problems caused by this crisis, but it would go a long way toward ensuring that American workers can get back on their feet as quickly as possible and all them to provide for themselves and their families," Stein concluded.

The full report, Immigration Reform Blueprint for the American Worker, can be found here.

Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004 or [email protected]

ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)