Georgia Restaurant Association Calls for Immigration Reform
Leaders in Georgia’s restaurant industry were in Washington D.C. this week to lobby the state’s congressional delegation on immigration and other matters. The meetings come as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators release a long awaited bill on immigration.
The legislation would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship and tighten border security.
Representatives from large restaurant chains, small restaurant chains, suppliers and members of the Georgia Restaurant Association plan to meet with both of Georgia’s U.S. Senators and several representatives. Georgia Restaurant Association Executive Director Karen Bremer says in those meetings industry leaders will express support for immigration reform.
“We are expected to grow by another 15 percent in the state of Georgia by 2020 and we are constantly looking at who’s going to fill that labor pool. We don’t see a solution with declining birth populations and with the increase of the baby boomers going into retirement. There has to be some sort of solution.”
Bremer says it hopes a final immigration reform plan will include a system to verify those it hires are legal to work in the U.S. and will create a worker visa program that will provide the industry with more employees. She also says industry leaders support securing the nation’s borders.
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