Employers from food-processing industries and agriculture as well as construction contractors and commercial landscapers were among the most persistent forces pushing for passage of the Senate bill, which failed in late June when senators voted 53 to 46 not to proceed to a vote. The measure would have provided a path to legal status for millions of illegal immigrants, who make up a significant percentage of workers in many low-wage, labor-intensive industries.

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More info: www.landcarenetwork.org

The defeat of the bill was praised by some conservative and anti-illegal-immigrant groups, who said it would have rewarded law-breaking immigrants and would have wrongly excused the employers who hired them. Now, employers say they face a bleak landscape if intensified raids by the immigration authorities and growing pressure to purge illegal immigrants from their work force, but no new options to bring in temporary foreign workers or help illegal workers become legal.

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Immigrant advocates said many illegal immigrants were not acutely disappointed because they had not had high expectations that the bill would pass.

The setback was more significant for the employers, who were represented by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition. Supporting the bill was a tricky proposition for many employers, and their advocacy remained muted through the debate. They had to call for legalizing illegal workers without admitting they employed any in their own work sites.

Source: The New York Times