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House conservatives on Friday blocked a narrow immigration reform measure, showing how hard it is an election year for the GOP-led chamber to make even small changes to the nation's immigration laws.

And this proposal was from a fellow Republican.

Rep. Jeff Denham of California pushed to add his proposal that would allow young people brought into the country illegally to join the military and gain legal status to annual defense legislation.

But conservatives revolted, arguing the measure amounted to "amnesty." They warned leaders its inclusion would jeopardize passage of the defense measure.

Although he is a co-sponsor of Denham's bill, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, a California Republican, said in a written statement that he would not include the proposal as part of the defense legislation he will unveil next month.

Pressed if he decided conservative opposition on the immigration issue would have defeated the defense bill, McKeon waved off the questions.

"I'm not going to talk any more about this right now," he said.

Denham, who served in the U.S. Air Force with immigrants in the first Iraq war, lashed out at those in his own party who were aggressively working against his bill.

"I'm very frustrated to hear controversy from members who have never served their country and don't understand the impact that immigrants have had on our freedoms," Denham said.

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Conservatives block immigration reform bid

Sam Morris

State Sen. Ruben Kihuen hugs Astrid Silva while they gather to listen to President Obamas announcement of new immigration reforms Friday, June 15, 2012, at the offices of the Progressive Leadership Alliance ofNevada.

By Tovin Lapan (contact)

Friday, April 4, 2014 | 12:46 p.m.

A prominent immigration reform advocate and community organizer from Las Vegas who has helped influence Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid garnered more national recognition this week.

The American Immigration Councils Immigrant Youth Achievement Award winner is Astrid Silva, an organizer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

Silva has been on of the most visible faces of Las Vegas immigration reform movement, going public with her undocumented status before getting a work permit through the deferred action for childhood arrivals program.

"We are overwhelmed with pride that Astrid is receiving this much-deserved national recognition," Bob Fulkerson, state director for PLAN, said in a statement. "Not a day goes by that Astrid does not impress us with her tenacity, selflessness and the impossible amount of infectious joy she brings to organizing, despite she and her family living the heart-breaking realities of our broken immigration system every single day."

Reid shared Silvas story last year on the Senate floor while arguing for the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill.

"When comprehensive immigration reform finally passes, it will be because of organizers like Astrid who wouldn't take no for an answer," Laura Martin, communications director for PLAN, said in a statement. "Astrid could have quietly gone on to fix her own status, but she selflessly uses her story to motivate community members across the state to take action and make the case for comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship."

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Las Vegas immigration advocate Astrid Silva earns national honor

When thinking of immigration reform, we must ask ourselves what we want for the country. From a business perspective, important goals to aim for are innovation and entrepreneurship. And although theres no simple recipe for achieving them, one key ingredient is diversity.

Smart business leaders know this. The most successful corporations strive to be the Employer of Choice, looking to recruit the best and brightest in a multicultural marketplace. They know they need the best skills and talent to deliver the innovation that leads to the best products and service in an increasingly competitive economy. They also appreciate that in a dynamic market be it nationally or locally, understanding and capitalizing on trends starts with a diverse workforce.

Immigration reform, done well, can help achieve all this. And it will deliver broad economic benefits and boost local economies. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that immigration reform would increase real Gross Domestic Product relative to current law projections by 3.3 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent in 2033 an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033 in todays dollars.

In business terms, immigration reform would increase Americas value proposition. There are more than 52 million Hispanics in the US. That makes us home to the second largest Hispanic population in the world. And it is our countrys fastest growing market. Fortune 100 companies have already seen this opportunity and have begun investing in ways to turn a profit on changing demographics. In addition, the economy will benefit from the launching of thousands of new companies, run by immigrants who bring with them an intense commitment to a free and open market system. The result: thousands upon thousands of new jobs and billions in new sales and income tax revenues.

A.A. Gill, author of America The Marvelous, in his book describes a critical point when Europe ripe with ideas and discoveries, philosophies and visions gave way to the creation of the United States. He worries that the U.S. may be at that point where the ideas that made us great are being stifled by the conventions and hierarchies that govern us.

Looking at the issue of immigration through a smart business lens can help us to realize the full potential of the rich resource we have created. We can learn from corporations that have implemented best practices when it comes to diversity and inclusion. They are reaping massive rewards in the form of growth and profits. We can do the same as a country.

Americas rich culture of diversity includes generations of families who have come to be a part of the fabric of our country, who have helped to grow businesses, and who have enriched nearly every aspect of our culture. Our children play together and go to school together. We are co-workers at some of the fastest growing companies in the economy. We pray together in churches all around the country. When we have embraced diversity, it has made us happier, stronger and more prosperous.

Moving forward, what makes the best business sense is to find a way to grant citizenship to those who are now a part of the melting pot that the world has voted the Best Place to Live.. The business and economic benefits are striking. We would increase our tax base and workforce pool, spur entrepreneurship, enhance our global standing, and fuel the innovation that has been a trademark of Made in America.

By granting legal status to members of our communities, neighbors, fellow church members, business owners and co-workers, we will unleash their contributions of hard work and innovation. The benefit is more prosperity for all of us.

Howland is President & CEO of Ibis Communications, Inc., a marketing agency based in Nashville, Tenn., and a board member of the American Sustainable Business Council.

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Immigration Reform: Diversity is good for business, the economy

April 4, 2014|12:49 pm

Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) speaking with The Christian Post, Washington, D.C., April 1, 2014.

WASHINGTON Immigration reform is unlikely to get passed this year in the U.S. House, Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told The Christian Post this week. He also spoke about his efforts to combat human trafficking.

"I don't anticipate taking up anything on immigration before we get to the [November] election," Lankford said.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee developed four bills addressing immigration. Then in January, House Republican leaders released a documentStandards for Immigration Reformthat included a path to legal status for current unauthorized immigrants.

Proponents of immigration reform were hopeful that legislation would pass this year. About a week later, though, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced there would be a pauseon immigration reform because his caucus does not trust President Barack Obama to enforce the law if they pass it.

With immigration reform, Lankford said his "beginning point" is "every person is created in the image of God and has value. Every person. Every person is to be treated with respect.

"Every person is also a citizen of some country. In their country they have rights and responsibilities, in every other country they are a guest."

Lankford added that there is not widespread support for, and he is opposed to, an amnesty program, but that does not mean there should be absolutely no path for some who are currently unauthorized immigrants.

"Take the 11 million who are here illegally, does that mean that all 11 million cannot be citizens? No," he said. "I think there have been some people here who have been engaged, follow laws, all except for the entry laws, which is a misdemeanor, ... . What do you do in those situations? ... What do you do with an infant? There's a lot of questions we need to process through."

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James Lankford Interview, Part 1: Immigration Reform Unlikely This Year

If the House were to pass H-1B expansion, the GOP would win support from at least some in the...

Immigration reform advocates are fond of citing broad support for their cause. But in fact the coalition behind the Senate Gang of Eight comprehensive reform bill is fragile and loosely cobbled together. How could Big Labor and the Chamber of Commerce and the tech world and Big Agriculture all unite behind one bill? Very tentatively.

It wouldn't take much to break the coalition apart. And if that happens, the effort to enact comprehensive immigration reform could blow up, not just for the moment, but for some time to come. And there are signs that is exactly what is occurring now.

Compete America is a group that calls itself the "leading advocate for reform of U.S. immigration policy for highly educated foreign professionals." Its members are some of the biggest names in the tech world: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft and many others.

The companies, as well as other high-profile groups, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us, have given millions to the cause of comprehensive immigration reform. The main reason is that they want an expansion of the H-1B visa program that allows high-skilled immigrants into the United States, thus expanding the labor pool for tech companies.

Of course, comprehensive immigration reform involves much more than H-1B visas. But the tech giants supported comprehensive reform, with its increases in unskilled immigration, its legalization of currently illegal immigrants, its path to citizenship, its byzantine agricultural provisions and much, much more because they wanted the H-1B boost.

For a long time, opponents of comprehensive immigration reform have thought: Why shouldn't the Republican-controlled House pass an H-1B expansion as a stand-alone bill? If the tech people got what they wanted, would they and their millions of dollars really stick around to fight hard for the rest of comprehensive reform? Passing an H-1B bill would be an excellent way to split the fragile pro-reform coalition.

Now, it looks as if that could be happening. On March 19, the executive director of Compete America, Scott Corley, published an op-ed urging lawmakers to pass the SKILLS Act, which is a measure to increase H-1B visas. "There is widespread agreement among both parties and in both chambers of Congress that high-skilled immigration is good for the economy," Corley wrote. "Congress needs to act now."

The move set off alarm bells among Democrats. If the tech people were to pull out, and take their money with them, or even if they just lost their passion for the fight where would that leave the tenuous reform coalition? In a much weaker position.

So on Tuesday, an unhappy Senate Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin wrote to the tech CEOs saying Senate Democrats will not -- no way, no how -- support a standalone H-1B bill. "It was my understanding that high tech was committed to supporting [the Gang of Eight bill] because the industry's top priorities are addressed in our legislation," Durbin wrote. "I am troubled by recent statements suggesting that some in the technology industry may shift their focus to passage of stand-alone legislation that would only resolve the industry's concerns."

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Democrats squawk as cracks form in immigration coalition