Immigration that Works

Businesses rely on immigration to fill roles across the economy¹—from high-skill positions in technology, health care, and engineering to essential jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and service industries.² Immigration addresses labor shortages, sustains workforce productivity, and contributes specialized skills that are often in limited supply domestically. Immigrants pay more in taxes than they consume in benefits,³⁴ start new businesses at high rates, and expand markets that support long-term growth.⁵⁶

Yet across successive administrations, U.S. immigration policy has created enormous risk for business and undermined growth and productivity.

Misalignment with labor market needs

The U.S. immigration system uses restrictive categories and rigid requirements that are out of touch with market realities. This makes it difficult to respond to regional, sector-specific, and rapidly evolving skill demands, including in frontier technologies critical to U.S. national security and competitiveness.

Unpredictable enforcement

Changes in enforcement guidance, border and asylum policies, parole and temporary protected status programs, and visa eligibility criteria across successive administrations have made legal compliance a moving target. Recent instances of excessive use of force by immigration officers have disrupted businesses, undermined community safety, and damaged economic activity.

Outdated visa caps

Employment-based visa limits were set nearly four decades ago. The result: sector shortages and lottery-based hiring outcomes that make workforce planning unpredictable.

Backlogs and processing delays

Slow adjudication creates years of uncertainty for visa and green card applicants and employers alike. When other countries offer faster, more durable work authorization pathways, the U.S. loses.

Lack of worker mobility

Many visas tie workers to a single employer or role, limiting adaptability for businesses while discouraging talented workers from choosing the U.S.

These issues, alongside concerns about the status of undocumented immigrants already living here, demand comprehensive reform. There is broad consensus that the system is broken—yet persistent political dysfunction and weaponization of the issue on both sides have blocked much-needed action.

A balanced, orderly, and pro-growth immigration policy is critical to U.S. competitiveness. Leadership Now rejects the false choice between securing the border and creating legal pathways for immigrants to contribute to the economy. Both goals can be pursued simultaneously.

Congress should enact bipartisan reforms—whether through a comprehensive deal or targeted legislative fixes—guided by the following:

Ensure Predictable, Reliable Enforcement

• Maintain border security. A functioning immigration system requires both robust legal pathways and strong border enforcement. Congress should enact reforms that maintain border security and prevent and discourage illegal immigration, including reforming our asylum system to ensure it serves only those with legitimate claims. Interior enforcement should focus on those with criminal records who pose the greatest threat, be lawful and humane, and be coordinated with local authorities to minimize disruption and economic harm.
• Modernize E-Verify. Only 1 in 6 employers use E-Verify, largely because it is costly, complex, and unreliable.⁷ Overhauling the system—leveraging technology to reduce administrative burdens and increase accuracy—would allow employers of all sizes to quickly confirm worker eligibility and reduce the need for workplace raids and other punitive measures. The goal: employers of all sizes should be able to quickly and easily access reliable data and ensure they are solely hiring authorized workers.

Attract and Retain Highly Skilled Workers

• Reform and expand the H-1B program. The U.S. must expand opportunities for high-skilled immigrants, including in STEM fields. Reforms should make H-1B visas portable, address wage suppression, and reduce fraud.⁸⁹ With those guardrails in place, Congress should raise or eliminate the H-1B cap.¹⁰ A flexible high-skilled visa program is essential for the U.S. to outcompete China in AI, biotech, and quantum computing.
• Build talent pipelines through robust international student enrollment. Nearly a quarter of billion-dollar U.S. startups had a founder who first came here as an international student.¹¹ Yet current policy forces international students to demonstrate intent to return home upon graduation and subjects them to unpredictable lotteries to remain—regardless of their skills. Recently introduced policies have made it harder and less appealing to study in the U.S., contributing to a 17% drop in new student enrollments from 2024 to 2025. As an important first step, Congress should enable STEM graduates to seek employment in the U.S.¹²

Reorient Immigration Policy Around Workforce Needs

• Expand seasonal and skilled trades visas. H-2B visa caps for non-agricultural seasonal labor have been unchanged for nearly four decades. Nearly every administration since 2017 has issued supplemental visas to address demand—but the timing has been unpredictable.¹³ Congress should permanently increase the supply of these visas so businesses can plan with confidence.¹⁴ As an interim step, Congress should allow employers to renew H-2B visas year after year without it counting against the annual cap.¹⁵
• Champion place-based visas. Place-based visa programs match migrants with available jobs in specific communities, distributing the costs and benefits of immigration more broadly.¹⁶ These programs should be tailored to specific job categories based on local economic needs.
• Create a path to legal status for law-abiding immigrants. Undocumented immigrants without a criminal record—especially long-term residents—should be able to apply for work authorization through a process that includes rigorous background vetting. Such policies would substantially boost GDP and federal revenues while filling gaps in manufacturing and other sectors.¹⁷¹⁸ Congress should set a reasonable eligibility cutoff date. As an urgent first step, Leadership Now supports providing legal permanent residency to more than 500,000 Dreamers brought to this country as children.¹⁹

The following bipartisan efforts align with our position that the U.S. must secure the border, modernize visa pathways, and align immigration policy with the needs of American workers and businesses.