Guest writer

On the right path

Immigration reform vital to U.S.

One of the most significant conversations in our nation’s political history is occurring right this moment.

In late June, the U.S. Senate, with support from Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., passed Senate Bill 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, a broad-based proposal for reforming the U.S. immigration system.

The bill was written by a bipartisan group of eight senators known as the “Gang of Eight” and will provide a path to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the U.S. The bill addresses all aspects of the immigration process, from border and enforcement issues to legal immigration reforms. It makes changes to the family and employment-based visa categories for immigrants, provides important due-process protections, and increases the availability of non-immigrant workers to supplement all sectors of the work force.

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The intent of the legislation was to commit the resources needed to secure the border, and modernize and streamline our current legal immigration system while creating a tough but fair legalization program for individuals who are currently here. The bill now is in the House committee phase, where congressional leaders are haggling over their own versions of the bill.

Arkansas stands to benefit from immigration reform in several ways.

Arkansas businesses in various industries benefit from the use of foreign workers, especially in agriculture. As Arkansas’ largest industry,agriculture supports nearly 17 percent of the state’s labor force. Removing the barriers to hiring skilled workers for these jobs will allow this industry to respond to the fluctuation in demand for workers.

The result will create more jobs, increase the wage floor, and improve working conditions for all workers.

Not only will this legislation provide important relief for working-class Americans, it will provide more possibilities to attract the best and brightest highly skilled workers to keep our country competitive in the science and technology fields.

Expertise in these areas will benefit American companies, help this nation meet its work-force needs and prevent the shipping of jobs overseas. Building a common-sense immigration system that will allow millions of aspiring Americans to become citizens is a top priority for the labor movement in 2013.

We would like to thank Sen. Mark Pryor for his continued support of this legislation. Senator Pryor has demonstrated concern for jobs and the economy, and compassion for immigrants and their families. His support was, and continues to be, crucial to the implementation of this act.

We should all commend Senator Pryor for standing up for this important legislation and urge our representatives in Congress to do the same.

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Alan Hughes is the president of the Arkansas Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

Editorial, Pages 11 on 07/29/2013

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