ManpowerGroup CHRO Mara Swan Op-Ed Presses for Immigration Policy Change

Immigration

Mara Swan, Executive Vice President, Global Strategy and Talent at ManpowerGroup, made a compelling case for rethinking immigration reform in The Hill this week as the Association continued its advocacy for sensible immigration reform with the release of a white paper and a social media campaign that netted more than 150,000 impressions inside the Beltway over a three day period.  Ms. Swan chairs the Association's Emerging Workplace Initiative.  In an op-ed entitled "DACA is About More Than Just Compassion," she cites the letter recently signed by 110 chief human resource officers and notes that the urgency for Congressional action on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals "raises the need for a broader assessment of the value of foreign-born workers not only to those companies, but to the economy, our society and, yes, to American-born workers as well."  The white paper, "How Foreign-Born Workers Make America More Competitive and Benefit American Workers," finds that foreign-born workers' positive contributions to American companies, communities, and the American economy underline the need for immigration policy with the flexibility to meet employers' needs in the midst of a workforce shortage.  In addition to proposing statutory authorization of DACA, the paper proposes:

• Adjusting the number of available work visas such as the H-1B, H-2B, and L1 based on demand that cannot be met by the American labor market;
• Providing foreign students who acquire advanced degrees in STEM disciplines at American higher education institutions a path to U.S. citizenship if they wish to use their talents in America rather than return to their country of origin;
• Allowing professionals to transition from temporary to permanent status after a period of contributing to the American economy, which would harness, rather than hinder, labor market forces to the broad benefit of the United States; and
• Establishing green card reform and the implementation of temporary worker programs for high-skilled and low-skilled workers.

The accompanying social media campaign, which began with the release of the Association's letter on immigration reform from CHROs, was targeted to Twitter users following key Congressional members and committees in the D.C. region.