After an almost never-ending election season, most Coloradans are tired of political talking points. It seemed every politician had the best ideas for boosting the economy, a foolproof plan for fostering job growth, and the cleverest tactics for keeping us competitive in the global economy. The good news is that the posturing has ended, leaving a real way that our representatives in Congress can keep their promises — by enacting permanent, comprehensive immigration reform.
Regardless of your political persuasion, the president’s recent announcement is a temporary, targeted fix. The executive action on immigration exercised under his limited authority puts a Band-Aid on a broken system that is harming multiple facets of our society – and particularly our economy.
As you read this, hundreds of Colorado’s high-tech companies are losing the world’s best and brightest engineers, researchers, scientists, and programmers as they return to their native countries after being educated in our schools. That’s because under our dated and defunct immigration system there aren’t enough H-1B visas — visas for highly skilled foreign workers — for the number of workers growing companies need. The number of visas has been capped at 85,000 since 2004, impairing burgeoning tech companies from hiring the highly skilled labor they need.
These workers attend our schools, colleges, and universities and then we send them back home to compete with us, severely dulling our competitive edge and preventing companies from keeping talent here in the United States.
President Obama’s announcement does prioritize some reforms that will be helpful for business, including new regulations easing restrictions on foreign managers and executives to work in the U.S., allowing the spouses of H-1B visa holders to work, and expanding the Optical Practical Training Program, a program that allows foreign students to work in the country. It will also allow workers waiting for H-1B petitions from their employers, but for whom a visa is unavailable, to apply for an adjustment of status. Finally, it will help entrepreneurs who are starting businesses and creating jobs to stay in the country and continue fostering growth.
While these provisions provide some temporary benefits for high-tech companies, we need Congress to enact sweeping reform that will bring our immigration system in line with a 21st century economy. In 2013 the Senate passed a bipartisan bill, crafted in part by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, which would have addressed many of the problems hurting the high-tech industry. The bill would have increased the number of H-1B visas available, and was supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that enacting immigration reform would reduce the deficit by $197 billion in the first ten years, by $700 billion over 20 years, and would increase the GDP by 3.3 percent in 2023, and by 5.1 to 5.7 percent in 2033. That bill has never even been brought up for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Our current immigration system is stifling growth and keeping us at a disadvantage. While a step in the right direction, the president’s announcement has not fixed it. After a heated and tumultuous election season, Congress has a genuine opportunity to follow through on their campaign promises and enact legislative reform that will grow our economy and give American companies a needed competitive edge.
Norman Stucker is general manager of PADT-Colorado and chair of the Economic Development Group at the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.
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