Home builders don’t like immigration bill

Source: Construction Digital

Date :6/5/2007 9:29:40 AM

The National Association of Home Builders has joined with those that oppose the immigration reform bill being debated in the U.S. Senate.

While noting the nation’s home builders have supported comprehensive immigration reform, Jerry Howard, Executive VP and CEO for the NAHB, says the problems with the overhaul reform bill “are so grave and extensive that we believe this legislation cannot be fixed without making major revisions.”

If the bill were to be enacted in its current form, Howard says, it would do “irreparable harm to America’s small businesses, which have generated the lion’s share of new job growth in the economy.”

On May 17, a bipartisan group of Senators and President George W. Bush announced they had reached a behind the scenes agreement on immigration reform and planned to put the legislation on the fast track. A week later the bill was being debated on the Senate floor.

“[The NAHB] has no choice but to oppose the legislation in its present form,” says Howard. “We call on lawmakers to go back to the table and start from scratch and bring in representatives from the small business community, including the construction sector, to help craft a reasonable bill that would benefit all Americans.”

Of particular concern to the NAHB are employment verification provisions in the Senate bill that would give the government latitude to prosecute an employer that hires an illegal alien without knowledge that the person is unauthorized to work. The bill also includes inadequate safe harbor protections that require complete adherence to all immigration regulations no matter how obscure.

In addition, the NAHB opposes language that would give the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security a wide berth to enact rules that would make general contractors responsible for the legal status of all of their subcontractor’s employees.

The NAHB also believes that the program to provide a future flow of immigrant workers for the construction industry is unwieldy and unworkable. Additionally, the organization says the legislation would increase opportunities for frivolous lawsuits against employers, and it is still unclear whether the new mandated employer verification system contained in the law would be workable, efficient and fair.