This week, the 5th Circuit ruled against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, siding with a lower court’s ruling that the policy is unlawful. This ruling means that it is more urgent than ever for Congress to act.

At the forefront of the immigration policy debate is the plight of those hundreds of thousands of immigrants in DACA status. These immigrants are hardworking individuals who are contributing to our economy, our communities, and our industries. Legislative reforms will serve to help stabilize the U.S. workforce for both workers and employers. Failure to address essential workers in the reform debate will cause turmoil in industries already hard-pressed to find workers like construction, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing and create similar chaos in companies with such workers.

The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC) was established decades ago and continues as a vital voice to advance business-centric, balanced immigration reform. Among the principles we have long-held, today’s debate on Immigration Reform needs EWIC’s brand on national policy that includes:

• A workable visa program that properly accounts for America’s current and future workforce needs;
• An employment verification system that is easily accessible, fair, inexpensive, and efficient for all employers; and
• A realistic option for the 10-11 million immigrants in an unstable status that are living and working in the United States to earn legal status.

EWIC is a broad-based coalition of national businesses and trade associations from across the industry spectrum concerned with the shortage of both semi-skilled and unskilled (“essential worker”) labor.

We urge all parties involved to move ahead with the legislative process, passing DACA immigration legislation that works for Americans, immigrants, and the U.S. economy. EWIC looks forward to continuing to work with all involved to find a solution to the nation’s immigration policy problems.