U.S. manufacturers urge Congress to fix ‘broken’ immigration system, address labor shortage

CEO of the National Association of Manufacturing, who are the largest manufacturing organization in the United States, have pleaded with congress to fix the problems at the border and allow migrants to come into the United States and work above board.

The CEO Jay Timmons called the immigration system “broken” and said there are 800,000 vacancies in the manufacturing that need to be filled for the United States to remain competitive.

“We need Congress to fix the broken, unreliable immigration system,” Timmons said Wednesday during media briefing at the Port of Los Angeles. “Clearly, we need border security. That’s an imperative. But we also need more avenues for people to come legally and to work.”

Manufacturing firms have reportedly offered jobs to migrants from Ukraine and Afghanistan who have been unable to obtain a U.S. visa.

“We don’t have to wait for the next Congress to alleviate visa backlogs to help bring more employer-based immigrants into the U.S. legally and provide certainty for dreamers,” he said.

Timmons along with the port’s director, Gene Seroka, talked about cargo numbers and the recession, stating that politicians, manufacturers, port officials must work together to get enough labor to keep the U.S. thriving. 

“We want to make things in America,” Timmons said. “We can’t always rely on other countries for things we need to supply.”

Timmons said that the U.S. imported a lot of health products and pharmaceuticals during the pandemic, and now they are heavily importing technologic products such as computer chips and phones.

Timmons also said that Manufacturers are closely watching the global marketplace with a high level of uncertainly due to increases in raw materials, transportation, and logistics. Timmons said this could be detrimental to the economy.

Seroka said he doesn’t worry about the U.S. slipping into a recession as it is already in one.

“We have had two consecutive quarters of economic decline,” he said. “What are we going to do? Continue to hunker down.”