Immigration

Immigration has a significant impact on California’s economy, affecting both the labor force and the movement of goods. America’s current immigration system is broken, however, and does not meet the needs of our citizens or businesses. For many in Riverside County, the uncertainty over their legal status is a drag on our economy and, if resolved, would stimulate consumer spending and investment.

The GCVCC supports new laws for the controlled admission of immigrant workers, along with a defined path for permanent residency and/or citizenship for unauthorized members of America’s workforce. The GCVCC supports comprehensive immigration reform legislation that includes a carefully monitored guest worker program, which provides Riverside County businesses with needed labor pool and is necessary to compete in today’s marketplace. The federal government has primary responsibility for enforcing immigration laws, not the business community, therefor the GCVCC opposes unfairly burdening employers with penalties and new worker verification requirements that are unreliable and underfunded.

Positions

IM-1: Support for temporary worker programs to meet the needs of employers for high- and low-skilled jobs that cannot be filled by U.S. workers.

IM-2: Combining enforcement of employment verification with 100 percent reliable employment eligibility information (E-Verify).

IM-3: Support for an earned pathway to legal status for undocumented workers.

IM-4: Support for protecting Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, and employment-authorized H-4 dependent spouses from losing their work authorization.