Declaring immigrants good for business, the Greater Cleveland Partnership urged Congress to approve a reform bill that would smooth the path of hopeful immigrants.
The Greater Cleveland Partnership endorses immigration reforms that could help Cleveland attract more people like Danton Patterson, left, from Jamaica, and Michael Haddad, center, from Lebanon. They were among dozens who took the oath of citizenship August 26, 2012, during One World Day festivities in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. Two months ago, leaders of the Greater Cleveland Partnership began studying a Midwest argument for immigration reform. Wednesday, they ended that review by declaring immigrants good for business and asking Congress to grant them a smoother path to Northeast Ohio.
The partnership's board of directors, meeting in downtown Cleveland, unanimously approved a resolution endorsing comprehensive immigration reform, adding a business perspective to a debate rising toward crescendo.
On Monday, the U.S. Senate will take up bipartisan legislation aimed at introducing sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system.
"We're adding our voice at the right time. Hopefully, it makes a difference," said Jose Feliciano, a partnership board member who pushed for the resolution.
Feliciano, a lawyer and a partner at BakerHostetler, said the partnership's strong endorsement could make it easier for politicians and other pubic figures who privately support immigration reform to say so publicly.
"When you see the business community stating that this really needs to get done, I think that increases the volume in the debate," he said.
The resolution argues that a "broken immigration system" is holding back economic progress in cities like Cleveland, where immigrants have all but stopped arriving. It states that the GCP, the region's chamber of commerce, views cultural and ethnic diversity as "an economic development strength" and sees immigrants as economic catalysts who create jobs.
With the vote, the partnership becomes one of the largest business groups in Ohio to endorse immigration reform.
In recent months, groups representing business and industry have become more vocal in support of Senate Bill 744, which observers see as the most far-reaching set of immigration reforms in a generation.
While public debate has focused upon border security and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, business leaders are more concerned about access to talent.
The proposed legislation would increase the number of visas available to high-skill immigrants, something the GCP has long endorsed, and help ease visa backlogs that make it difficult for employers to hire international students and foreign-born scientists and engineers.
By calling for comprehensive reform, the partnership endorses the many facets of the proposed legislation. For example, the resolution cites the need for lower-skilled immigrants who take seasonal farm work and other hard-to-fill jobs.
"It's obviously an expansion of our support beyond the H-1B visas," said Joe Roman, the president of the partnership. "Our board feels pretty strongly about a comprehensive approach that could be good for the country and good for Cleveland."
The partnership, Ohio's largest chamber of commerce, joined the contentious debate in April when it hosted a public forum to discuss a report issued by the Independent Task Force on Immigration and U.S. Economic Competitiveness.
The task force concluded that immigration was more than a border issue and that proposed reforms could help Rust Belt cites attract population and investment.
The forum drew only mild interest from Cleveland's business community but sparked a wider conversation. Over the past several weeks, Roman said, more than 100 business leaders took part in discussions that resulted in a consensus decision.
Cleveland needs to grow its neighborhoods, its population and its workforce, he said. Immigrants, the GCP concluded, are part of the solution to all three challenges.