Failure to Act Will Result in Increased Enforcement Pressure on Businesses without Fixing the Broken Immigration System

June 01, 2007
Contact: Chrissy Shott 202-331-5902, Maureen Ryan 202-331-5939

(Washington, DC) – The National Restaurant Association’s chairman of the Board of Directors, Richard E. Rivera, FMP, Chairman and CEO of Rubicon Enterprises LLC, today met with President George W. Bush, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez to discuss the bipartisan compromise on comprehensive immigration reform now pending in the Senate.

“I was pleased to be a part of today’s meeting and to have the opportunity to highlight the importance of comprehensive immigration reform to the restaurant industry. Our nation’s 935,000 restaurant-and-foodservice locations and their 12.8 million employees have much at stake with this legislation,” said Rivera. “It is critically important that the debate move forward. Failure to act will result in increased enforcement pressure on business at the federal, state and local level, without fixing the broken immigration system.”

The meeting was comprised of a small group of association executives, with representation from the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, the National Federation of Independent Business, The Business Roundtable, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The National Restaurant Association serves as co-chair of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, which includes more than 40 national businesses and trade associations seeking reform of America’s broken immigration system. For more information, please visit the EWIC website at: www.ewic.org