Valley business leaders call for immigration reform

PHOENIX — A panel of local business leaders and lawmakers spent part of Tuesday morning at Arizona State University discussing the economic benefits of immigration reform.

As Congress went on recess at the end of last week without passing an immigration bill, President of AT&T Arizona Jerry Fuentes said it is all the more reason for business leaders to ramp up calls for reform.

“This is our opportunity to start getting louder about the issue and stay loud,” he said.

The issue of immigration reform is important to businesses Fuentes said, and having a broken system is costing the state and country.

“It means jobs, it means investments, it really means growing our businesses.”

Without taking a partisan stance on what the best reform would be, Fuentes did say it would likely include a combination of securing the border and creating pathways to citizenship.

Fuentes added immigration affects both big and small business and it is time to see reform.

“We need a solution, this is too important for the business community to sit back and do nothing,” he said.