Hotel execs press for immigration reform

By: Daniel W. Reilly
May 14, 2007 05:10 PM EST

Frustrated by slow progress in overhauling federal immigration law, the top executives of some of the nation's largest hotel chains have urged President Bush and key members of Congress to push for a breakthrough.

"We have to get the leadership in the House and Senate together on this," said J.W. Marriott Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of the Marriott hotel chain. "They have got to get this fixed."

Marriott and five other CEOs have sent a letter to the president, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Marriott said he has already spoken with Gutierrez and will be contacting more congressional leaders this week.

"We could not operate our hotels without workers from other countries," the executives said in their letter. "It is time ... to pass legislation that will achieve a true solution to our broken immigration system."

In addition to Marriott, the letter was signed by the heads of the Hilton Hotels Corporation, the InterContinental Hotels Group, the Global Hyatt Corp., Loews Hotels and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Collectively, the hotel chains employ more than 331,000 people, many of whom are foreign-born, according to the letter.

The hotel heads fear that if Congress fails to act, states and municipalities will instead enact a patchwork of immigration laws.

On Saturday, the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch narrowly passed a town ordinance prohibiting landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants, reported to be the first of its kind in the nation.

"We can't manage 150 different laws, and neither can anybody else," Marriott said. "We need to have comprehensive reform."

Marriott said he feared the contentious issue of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States is "taking all the oxygen out of the air" and could "derail the whole debate."

Several conservative Republican senators have indicated they would not support a bill that includes amnesty.

Marriott, though, said he "absolutely" supports a path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants. "There is no way we can deport 12 million people out of this country," he said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/3986.html