The Salt Lake Chamber supports the national LIBERTY Campaign (Legal Immigration and Border Enforcement Reform This Year), led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and was part of a letter issued to Congress calling for action on border security and legal immigration to meet ongoing workforce needs. So far, the campaign has garnered support from over 430 business associations in all 50 states, representing a cross-section of industries, such as health care, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, construction, agriculture, engineering, and food processing, among others.
“Immigration reform has been an important issue to the Salt Lake Chamber for decades. We recognize the critical role immigrants play in the economic prosperity of our state – positively impacting our economy through entrepreneurship, workforce participation, tax contributions and spending power. We also recognize the Utah economy cannot fully function without increasing our workforce. Creating more pathways for legal immigration is the right thing to do for the economic imperative and the human imperative.
“In 2010, The Utah Compact was adopted when government, business, community and religious leaders set forth principles to reach a collaborative solution to immigration reform. The Compact is based on Utah values, like compassion, rule of law, and a free-market philosophy, and promoted common-sense immigration reforms to strengthen our economy and attract talent and business to our state. In 2019, not enough work had been done, and we reaffirmed the Compact, reissuing the call to our leaders to address immigration reform at the federal level.
“We have also partnered with businesses and organizations locally to highlight the benefits legal immigrants bring to our community and economy, such as the Salt Lake County Certified Welcoming County designation and American Business Immigration Coalition legislative priorities. Despite these efforts, not enough progress has been made, even though the consensus among the majority of Americans is that 73% are in favor of an improved legal immigration process, and 74% support more border enforcement.
“The country is speaking loud and clear. We need Congress to act on the border crisis and workforce shortage now, or else we risk further plaguing our economic sectors, driving inflation, and hampering growth.”
For more information on the LIBERTY campaign, click here.
