passage of the Dignity Act<\/a>, which does require Congressional approval, and would provide a pathway to legal status \u2014 not citizenship \u2014 to address labor shortages. Streufert said 40 lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of the Dignity Act, which is \u201csomething I\u2019ve not seen in a long time. So, that is hopeful.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nThe bipartisan support comes from the act covering multiple priorities, from funding to secure the border to specific protections for Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. as children. For those who have been here at least five years, they can pay a fine and apply to get a legal work permit. The legislation also includes funding for job training programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we haven\u2019t done (immigration reform) for 40 years is because it has become a political pawn. There\u2019s nothing to run on if you solve the one thing that divides people the most.\u201d\u00a0 -TRA CEO Emily Williams Knight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a thoughtful, balanced approach,\u201d Streufert said. \u201cIt helps answer the plan for folks who have been here. They don\u2019t qualify for citizenship but instead pay a fine. They\u2019re not eligible for government benefits, so it isn\u2019t a handout. It\u2019s a way for these people to come out of the shadows and legally contribute to the economy and their communities. It\u2019s not political, it\u2019s saying \u2018we need people, they\u2019re here, let\u2019s treat them with dignity, and let them contribute.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Knight and Streufert recently spent more than a month traveling throughout Texas listening to operators to understand their most pressing policy needs. At the top of the list, across the board, was immigration reform. They followed up that tour with a trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby for such reform. Knight said the experiences reiterated just how urgent it is to find a solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are too many things impacting restaurants right now that are out of operators\u2019 control,\u201d she said. \u201cEven higher-income consumers are getting nervous. The work permit piece is one thing we could solve today and put some certainty back into the system to try and shore up traffic and employment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She acknowledged, however, that it won\u2019t be easy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we haven\u2019t done (immigration reform) for 40 years is because it has become a political pawn,\u201d Knight said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to run on if you solve the one thing that divides people the most.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
To break through that barrier, the TRA and the Seat the Table coalition plan to keep talking about the need for change from an economic lens. Knight said the topic becomes less controversial if voters understand how the issue impacts their wallets directly. Streufert added that the TRA is the right entity to be leading the conversation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can take the political sting on this because we are a red state, a free market state, and we are saying it\u2019s a need,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve polled our voters and 83% agree with the work permit concept. For Texas Republicans, that jumps to 89%.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those numbers are giving them some optimism, despite the past year of staunch immigration enforcement and no progress toward work permits or anything related.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, you had to be all or nothing\u2014like border security or amnesty\u2014as if there aren\u2019t 500 shades of grey,\u201d Streufert said. \u201cWhat\u2019s shifting now is the border is secure and affordability has become the key issue, so people are starting to reject false choice. We have to start somewhere and that\u2019s why we\u2019re starting with permits. We can\u2019t let this all-or-nothing proposition continue and we can\u2019t let perfect be the enemy of the good.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Knight reiterated that the timeline is \u201cyesterday.\u201d The recent Texas Roadshow and the inflationary toll from the Iran War have only solidified her conviction, and she is pleading with leaders to get something, anything, done to relieve the immigration crisis gripping the industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve built our businesses on immigrants for decades and we need a system for them to be authorized to work and continue to contribute. We\u2019ve thought long and hard on how to do this \u2014 job codes, who pays fines, everything. Bring us to the table and we can work it out,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery day that passes is a lost opportunity to fix the affordability crisis.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some restaurant industry groups are working to find a long-term immigration solution. | Photo courtesy of KE ON…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1724,2557,223,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-249718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-immigration","tag-labor","tag-news","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}