Illegal immigration remains key issue
PHILADELPHIA
It is both a time of
promise and conflict for Hispanic-owned businesses.
The number of Hispanic-owned companies grew
three times faster than the national average from 2097 to 2002, according to the
latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. But as Hispanic entrepreneurs
accumulate wealth, they come face to face with the issue of illegal immigration
as several cities pass or introduce laws that will penalize companies that hire
these workers.
These issues were discussed with Michael Barrera,
the president and chief executive of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,
which has about 200 chambers of commerce members in the United States, Canada,
Puerto Rico and Mexico. The chamber held its annual convention last week in
Philadelphia.
Q: What do you think accounts for the rapid
growth of Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S.?
A: It's commensurate with the growth of
the Hispanic market generally. Selig Center just came out with a study: The
Hispanic market will be spending $800 billion this year. You need businesses to
support that voracious appetite of consumer spending.
What are the emerging business opportunities
for Hispanic companies?
Some of the emerging opportunities are in IT
(information technology), and then you also look at financial services. With the
passing of CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) ... there are tremendous
opportunities for Hispanic-owned businesses abroad.
When I traveled to Mexico this year ... they
used to talk about 'How do we get people to invest in Mexico?' The last two
times I was there, they want to know how to do business with Hispanic-owned
businesses here. It's not just Mexico, it's all Latin America.
What is the most pressing challenge facing
Hispanic businesses today?
Access to capital. ... The Small Business
Administration has been a great partner in providing a lot of our startup loans
for our businesses, but it's more than that. We have to start looking at joint
ventures, venture capital and those types of loan programs.
Also, IT is still a challenge. We're a little
behind the rest of the market in IT.
Illegal immigration has grabbed the headlines
in recent months. What's the chamber's stance on the issue?
We want comprehensive immigration -- and that
means many things. We don't want just enforcement because it's not good for
business, it's not good for those 12 million undocumented people that are
here. ... At the same time, we also recognize we have to have secure borders.
... But it's more than that.
Illegal immigration and a comprehensive policy
will help our impending Social Security crisis. ... The Hispanic market is a very
young market, particularly the immigrants. If you have this young market that's
doing the work a lot of workers won't do, and contributing and adding to Social
Security, that will help a lot of things.
A number of cities have passed or are
considering laws to make it tougher for illegal immigrants to find work in
America. Businesses can face fines if they hire an illegal. What's the impact of
such an environment on Hispanic-owned businesses?
They want to follow the law and do the right
thing but these laws have got to make sense. ... We want to be sure there is a
proper guest worker program that has a proper identification card, which any
small business can check without too much regulatory hassle in it.
What kind of immigration policy would Hispanic
businesses like to see?
We do want to be sure that we know who's in
this country. Let's identify the folks that are here. Let's have a legal pathway
for workers that we need.
First, we've got to offer these jobs to
American workers. If they don't want them, we have to have access to a work
force that can fulfill these jobs.
Why do you think there's been such a backlash
on illegal immigration recently?
It's kind of interesting. At this time last
year, this was not a big issue. I don't remember it being a big issue. I really
believe someone saw it as a political issue.
It's gotten a lot of press and you've basically
only seen one side of the argument if you turn on any TV. You always see people
climbing over fences. They don't show the positive contributions that immigrants
have made.
The perception of it right now is, it's a bunch
of evil people coming over.
Bear Stearns did a recent study (showing) that
there's an underground economy worth $970 billion. Most of that economy is
fueled by illegal immigrants. If we're able to bring that shadow economy into
the normal economy, look at the taxes we would capture. Just the taxes on that
alone could almost wipe out our federal debt.
