Business Disappointment

The strategy to achieve immigration reform during this legislative cycle was based on focusing on the business demand for immigrants, above other arguments.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce publicly supported a comprehensive immigration reform like the one approved by the Senate. Its president Tom Donohue expressed in January, at the annual State of American Business address, his determination to make 2014 the year that immigration reform is enacted.

The expectation was that the strategy of business-led pressure for reform would change the stance of at least a few Republican congressmen reluctant to challenge such a powerful group. But it did not.

The problem is, immigration is very low on the list of priorities for Congress when it really matters – that is, election time.

Pressure only works when it is clear for the legislator that, if he doesn’t support or reject the issue at hand, he risks losing support and money for his reelection. This is politics, and this is precisely what the Chamber failed to do.

The business sector is actually endorsing for the November elections precisely the legislators who opposed reform at the Senate and blocked a proposed overhaul at the House of Representatives.

It is estimated that the Chamber is spending $28 million in races all over the country for legislators who – with a few exceptions – opposed reform, or to unseat those who supported the Senate measure.

The business sector priorities are the same budget cuts and deregulation that conform the republican agenda. Any other concern, like immigration reform, is disposable and irrelevant.

That’s why the republican legislators completely ignored the entrepreneurs’ insistence on immigration. They knew those words were empty, and had no bearing on what really matters – political support.

This reality begs a reflection on the future of immigration reform, and the sincerity of those allies who support it in public and then kill it with money