Immigration

Washington, DC--(HISPANIC PR WIRE - US Newswire)--May 2, 2006--After weeks of watching an ineffectual Congress play politics with a pressing national issue, the leaders of the design and construction community gathered in Washington, DC last week at their annual Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT) policy conference to adopt a multi-step position statement that addresses the illegal immigration matter. "This issue is another example of the inability of our national leaders to govern responsibly" noted outgoing CIRT Chairman, J. Doug Pruitt, (Chairman & CEO of Sundt Construction, Inc.).

With this in mind, the CIRT position is a straight forward series of practical steps that set priorities while facing the reality of the situation posed by the estimated 11-12 million illegal aliens already in the United States.

First and foremost, the statement sets as the highest priority the need "to control and manage the borders/entry points so as to create an orderly entry process." Without a systematic approach to controlling our borders, ports, air terminals, and other points of entry there is no value in trying to address the overall problem -- no matter how we resolve the 12 million illegal aliens in the country they will simply be replaced by a new wave of illegal immigrants. "This does not mean building a wall necessarily, but it does mean making a commitment in personnel, technology, and financial resources to seriously get about the business of securing our borders" noted Pruitt.

Second, the CIRT position argues for placing the "current illegal aliens on a path to some form of legal status which would include learning the language and culture of the United States." Noting that it is unrealistic, impractical, if not impossible to round-up and deport 11 million-12 million individuals currently embedded in the American fabric, the industry leaders understand that even short of citizenship the illegal aliens need to be accounted for and allowed to come out of the shadows while making amends for their initial activity of entering the country illegally.

The third CIRT position calls upon the federal government to create an improved form of "national ID that can reasonably be relied upon by businesses when hiring." "Use of new technologies are in order and should be applied to address this gap in our system and then if businesses are found to knowingly and repeatedly to break the law with respect to hiring illegal aliens then law enforcement agencies should come down hard on them;" stated Doug Pruitt.

Lastly, CIRT contends that the illegal immigration flow is only a symptom of a larger problem -- namely, the legal immigration system is broken. As part of a comprehensive approach CIRT contends that "legal immigration policy should be consistent, streamlined, and improved" so as to remove the incentive to "end run" the system. "When we remove the rewards and incentives for illegal activity and improve the process for those taking a legal avenue to this nation, then and only then will we begin to see a slackening of the full-scale assault on our borders" noted CIRT President Mark A. Casso.

Ancillary to the four steps in the CIRT immigration position, the Round Table believes that the United States should expand its role in "improving the economic conditions in the countries that are the main sources of illegal immigrants" especially in the Western Hemisphere; as well as "piloting" workforce development and training programs as a possible beginning point for a guest worker system.

"Once a comprehensive immigration reform process as outlined by CIRT is implemented, we can once again get back to celebrating the amazing contributions and creativity the immigrant populations have brought over our history to the "melting pot" we call the United States" stated Casso.

For a copy of CIRT's Position Statement and to read an expanded version of this press release, please go to CIRT's website at http://www.cirt.org under BREAKING NEWS.

CIRT is a national business trade association composed of approximately 100 CEOs from the leading architectural, engineering, and construction companies doing business in the United States. These firms' activities include billions of dollars in both public and private infrastructure projects that improve the quality of life for all Americans. For more information on this and other issues affecting the design and construction industry, check out: http://www.cirt.org