New immigration reform bill sparks industry optimism

Nation's Restaurant News,  April 2, 2007  by Paul Frumkin

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WASHINGTON -- Foodservice industry officials are cautiously optimistic that a seemingly comprehensive bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives could help jump-start the stalled federal legislative initiative on immigration reform and provide a mechanism that would augment the industry's diminishing labor pool.

The STRIVE Act--Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy--or H.R. 1645, contains several provisions favored by the industry, notably a guest worker program and a possible path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants living and working in this country.

"The bill gives some reason for optimism," said John Gay, senior vice president of government affairs and public policy for the National Restaurant Association. "At first glance it has the structure we're looking for in comprehensive reform, and it launches debate in the 110th Congress. We hope it will spur the Senate along."

Proponents of immigration reform hope that the passage of some comprehensive reform package at the federal level will help to head off scores of related bills introduced at the stare and local levels. According to the NRA, some 43 states introduced immigration bills in 2006, at least some of which would prohibit the employment of undocumented workers, impose penalties for noncompliance and require work authorization verification.

However, at presstime industry experts were cautioning that they had yet to investigate fully the sprawling, 700-page bipartisan bill, which Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., introduced March 22.

Association executives, for example, were concerned about the bill's proposed employment verification system, which would require employers to confirm each potential employee's eligibility to work. "We'll have to go over that with a fine-tooth comb," Gay said. "We have to make sure it's functional, not too complex and not too expensive."

Some apprehension also was voiced about the STRIVE measure's "touchback" provision, which would require immigrants working here for six years to return briefly to their native countries before being allowed to re-enter to apply for permanent legal status.

Nevertheless, Gay and others sounded a generally upbeat note.

"We know broadly what's in it, and I can say it's an encouraging bill," he said. "But while the outline we've seen indicates they're on the right track, we don't know what the details are yet."

Industry officials had condemned the House's previous immigration initiative, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, which chiefly addressed employer sanctions and border security. The measure sought to stiffen fines for hiring illegal immigrants and required employers to check a national registry for workers' employment eligibility status.

Association executives said the STRIVE Act at least attempts to find a way to deal with the 12 million or so undocumented or illegal immigrants--about half of whom are said to come from Mexico--who currently live and work in the United States.

The federal government estimates the number of immigrants--legal and illegal--who are employed in foodservice positions at about 1.4 million, or 10 percent of the industry's workforce.

The Gutierrez-Flake bill would enable undocumented immigrants who entered the country before June 1, 2006, to remain here and work for two three-year periods on newly established H-2C visas available for guest workers. The measure would require that employers offer foreign workers the same wages and working conditions as American workers.

In addition, it allows for a flexible "future flow program." Unlike last year's Senate bill, which established a 200,000-person cap for H-2C temporary worker visas, the STRIVE Act sets the number at 400,000 and provides a mechanism that enables that total to rise or fall, depending on economic needs. The upper limit would be 600,000.

"The number of H-2C visas would be adjusted yearly," said David French, vice president of government relations for the International Franchise Association. "It's important that the future inflow of immigrants will be tied to market conditions in the U.S."

Richie Jackson, executive vice president and chief executive of the Texas Restaurant Association, said the bill's touchback provision shouldn't pose much of a problem for undocumented workers from Mexico. "It becomes more difficult when the immigrants are from Central or South America or the Pan-Asian areas," he said.

French said the touchback program "seems like the sponsors felt they needed to just put a hurdle [to permanent residency] in the bill."

Gay called it "primarily a political provision" to help gain support among congressional lawmakers who are against any bill that would appear to offer amnesty to illegal workers here now.

The measure also would require any immigrant who seeks permanent residency to pay a $2,000 fine and back taxes, learn English, and pass background and security checks. Once immigrants have returned to their homes and then applied for U.S. legal status, they would have to wait in line behind any green-card applicants living here or abroad.