Restaurants are expected to feel few effects from President Obama’s planned changes in immigration enforcement policies, but the National Restaurant Association is concerned about the political fallout of using an executive order to address the issue.
“We are concerned that the President’s executive action on immigration will negatively impact Congress’ ability to accomplish real and lasting reform,” NRA President and CEO Dawn Sweeney said in a statement issued after Obama’s televised address to the nation last night. “Immigration reform is a highly charged issue that requires deliberate and constructive bipartisan dialogue…We hope that the debate over process will not derail progress on common sense immigration reform measures in the next Congress.”
The plan sketched by Obama would allow illegal immigrants whose children are American citizens to be spared deportation if they meet such criteria as having resided in the U.S. for at least five years. They would also have to be taxpayers and to have passed a criminal background check.
The restaurant industry has long favored immigration reforms that would transition illegal immigrants into permissible restaurant hires.
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