Bloomberg, Murdoch Push for More Skilled Immigrants in U.S.
- European Pressphoto Agency
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, speaks with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch during their testimony on immigration policy before the House Judiciary Committee.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch are urging Congress to overhaul immigration laws to make it easier for skilled workers to come to the U.S.
Both men are part of a group of business leaders and mayors called Partnership for a New American Economy that seeks to overhaul the immigration system. Bloomberg and Murdoch testified Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee.
Bloomberg said there are about one million high-skill positions in the U.S. that are unfilled because companies can’t find the right workers. “Allowing companies to far more easily fill those jobs would be perhaps the best economic stimulus package Congress could create,” he said.
Murdoch, noting he is an immigrant himself, called current U.S. policy “self-defeating” because the country now attracts successful students from around the world, educates them at top tier universities, and then requires many of them to leave for opportunities in other countries. (News Corp. is a global media company which owns The Wall Street Journal.)
Both men acknowledged lawmakers have been deadlocked for years on immigration, and dismissed suggestions that all of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country now should be deported.
“It is nonsense,” said Murdoch. “Not only is it impractical, it is cost prohibitive,” he added, noting a study put the cost of such deportations at $285 billion.
Lawmakers are not expected to take any action on immigration before the November election.
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