Thread: Immigration reform worries Hispanic business owners

Immigration reform worries Hispanic business owners
Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Hispanic business owners in Texas are afraid they'll find more stick than carrot in the immigration reform being considered in Washington, D.C., many of them said Friday in El Paso.

About 100 business leaders crowded in a meeting room during the Texas Association of Mexican-American Chambers of Commerce convention to make their concerns known about proposed increased penalties for employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Joe Cisneros, president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said small-business owners in his area struggle to find enough workers to fill their needs.

"It's a challenge to find qualified workers. They (businesses) are expanding, landing hot new contracts and they have to take what they can find in terms of work force, especially in rural Texas," Cisneros said. "A lot of the time, we have become 'no ask, no tell.' We fill I-9 (employment eligibility verification forms), pay our taxes and live the American Dream."

Business owners are supposed to check their employees' papers, but undocumented immigrants often use borrowed Social Security cards, which is hard to spot. And enforcement has been lax.

For example, no cases of workplace enforcement had been
prosecuted in the Western District of Texas in seven or eight years until immigration officials arrested the owners of an East El Paso quarry for allegedly hiring undocumented immigrants in April.

But legislation passed by the Senate this year would require employers to check workers against a database on a Web site that is still being tested. This system worries some.

"What concerns us is that the onus is being placed on us and the database is flawed right now and the technology is not proven," said A.J. Rodriguez, president and CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

So far, more than 10,000 employers across the United States are voluntarily using the pilot online database, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

Wednesday, the agency announced the launching of a comprehensive program called ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, or IMAGE, that would include access to the database and free classes for employers on detecting fraudulent documents and other things.

The Senate immigration bill also promised to address the reported labor need with a guest-worker program or a legalization program of undocumented workers already in the country. But these proposals have drawn opposition from Republicans in the House of Representatives, whose bill focuses mostly on border security and employer sanctions.

This week, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., proposed a compromise between the House and the Senate bills that would set up privately run employment centers outside the United States. Undocumented immigrants would have to leave the United States and apply through the centers to return on work visas. Those centers would not operate until after the president has certified to Congress that the border is secure.

The negotiations between legislators are stalled this summer, while House Republicans travel the nation conducting immigration hearings in several locations, including El Paso and Las Cruces.

But business owners said their situation is pressing.

"There are not a lot of options for you (to hire foreign workers) unless you are a large multinational corporation and you can bring in workers through inter-company exchanges or on investors' visas," said Myron Morales, an immigration lawyer with Lee Lane Smith LLC in Austin.

H-1B visas for high-tech workers and H-2B visas for non-agricultural unskilled workers have already reached their annual quotas. Employers must wait until next Spring to apply for more H-1B visas, and the law that creates H-2B visas expires this year, Morales said.

Guillermo Valenzuela, a representative from the office of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, encouraged business leaders to keep pressuring elected officials.

"It's critical that you, the businesses, do not let this issue out of your hands. It will be your issue," he said.

Valenzuela reminded the business leaders that the private sector can claim credit for pushing the government to create the Dedicated Commuter Lane, the FAST lane and other programs that have facilitated cross border trade.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_4110234

Well, as long as the illegals are only borrowing the Social Security cards, I guess it's ok.

Count:

First of all, don't you think it would be a good idea to exchange the cape for a poncho?

Seriously now,

"It's a challenge to find qualified workers. They (businesses) are expanding, landing hot new contracts and they have to take what they can find in terms of work force, especially in rural Texas," Cisneros said. "A lot of the time, we have become 'no ask, no tell.' We fill I-9 (employment eligibility verification forms), pay our taxes and live the American Dream."

The American Dream is becoming the American Nightmare.

H-1B visas for high-tech workers and H-2B visas for non-agricultural unskilled workers have already reached their annual quotas. Employers must wait until next Spring to apply for more H-1B visas, and the law that creates H-2B visas expires this year, Morales said.

Doesn't that tell you we don't need no more people in here for a while?

"There are not a lot of options for you (to hire foreign workers) unless you are a large multinational corporation and you can bring in workers through inter-company exchanges or on investors' visas," said Myron Morales, an immigration lawyer with Lee Lane Smith LLC in Austin.

Yep, you're right!!! Hey, Senor Morales, we don't need no more taco stands, got it? So maybe these business owners will have to go get a real job (if they can).

They will have to hire american citizens or authorized workers at real wages. Too bad that is the law.

Originally Posted by CheyenneWoman

Count:
First of all, don't you think it would be a good idea to exchange the cape for a poncho?

Good suggestion, CheyenneWoman, although here in the occupied territories we call it a serape.

Thank you Count. I stand corrected.
Looks way cool

Congratulations Joe Cisneros, president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.



Oh poor Joe, you wouldn't have such a hard time if you were hiring English speaking Americans, to "do the jobs Americans wont do". See Joe, I know what your real problem is. You can't find enough "qualified labor". You don't need more unskilled undocumented labor for your jobs Joe? Why not? Just go by the day labor center Joe and pick up some labor.

Joe told on himself and I have no pity for him. He's trying to sell us something he doesn't even need.

Dixie