Small Business Group Encourages Supreme Court to Uphold Executive Actions on Immigration Reform
Statement by Rhett Buttle, President & Managing Director of Small Business Majority, on an amicus brief filed yesterday urging the Supreme Court to uphold the president's executive actions on immigration
Small Business Majority, in conjunction with a coalition of business leaders and small business owners, filed an amicus brief this week urging the Supreme Court to uphold the president's executive actions on immigration being challenged in United States v. Texas. We believe upholding the executive actions will help drive new business growth and ensure small businesses have adequate access to a skilled workforce.
Having access to a qualified workforce is of paramount importance to entrepreneurs looking to grow and expand their businesses. Our scientific opinion poll found 1 in 5 small business owners who have hired immigrants say it's because they can't find enough U.S. citizens to fill jobs. In fact, many small employers who have chosen to hire immigrants say one of the biggest challenges they face in using immigrant labor is concern about following the letter of the law.
This underscores why it's critical to improve our immigration system and make it easier for employers to understand and comply with its requirements—and why upholding the executive actions is crucial to moving us closer to fixing the system as a whole.
However, we still need Congress to move forward on comprehensive reform. This would create a more stable workforce—something small businesses desperately need right now—and pad our country's coffers. Specifically, two-thirds of small business owners believe we should allow more low-skilled foreign workers who might work in the agricultural, restaurant or service industries into this country legally, and a vast three-quarters agree the most appropriate solution for handling the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants is to create a path toward citizenship so those here illegally can become legal taxpayers, pay their fair share and contribute to the economy and work toward citizenship in the future.
A resounding 88 percent of small employers believe our current immigration system is broken. The executive actions takes us one step closer to repairing our flawed system and ensuring we have a robust workforce. We urge the Supreme Court to uphold the executive actions on immigration in whole.
About Small Business Majority
Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization, founded and run by small business owners to focus on solving the biggest problems facing America's 28 million small businesses today. Since 2005, we have actively engaged small business owners and policymakers in support of public policy solutions, and have delivered information and resources to entrepreneurs that promote small business growth and drive a strong, sustainable economy. We are a team of more than 30 working from our 11 offices in Washington, D.C. and 9 states, with a network of more than 45,000 small business owners and more than 2,000 business organizations, along with a formal strategic partnership program of more than 125 business organizations, enabling us to reach more than 500,000 entrepreneurs. Our extensive scientific polling, focus groups and economic research help us educate and inform policymakers, the media and other stakeholders about issues including taxes, healthcare, access to capital, entrepreneurship, workforce development, clean energy and immigration. Learn more about us on our website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.