Know This Now: February 28, 2025

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The latest from our network:

Be Heard: Sign our letter to Congress and President Trump on the need for common sense workforce and immigration solutions

- Immigrants play a vital role in the economy and their contributions are essential to maintaining U.S. competitiveness.
- ABIC advocates for securing the border, streamlining visa processes, and creating pathways for Dreamers, farm workers, and essential workers to remain legally in the U.S.
- A modern immigration system should support businesses in hiring foreign workers when necessary while protecting American families and ensuring economic growth.
- Sign today, we’ll deliver the letter in person in D.C. at the end of March!

Join us in DC: ABIC, representing 1,700 employers, the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce representing 40 million Hispanic entrepreneurs, Dairy Producers of New Mexico, Salt Lake Restaurant Association and 15 more organizations are heading to Washington, DC, on March 25-26 to advocate for commonsense immigration solutions. Sign up to join the “Secure America’s Workforce” Fly In

News Briefing

Top News

President Trump announced a new “Gold Card” visa that will allow wealthy foreigners to obtain U.S. residency and a pathway to citizenship for a $5 million fee this week. The program, set to replace the EB-5 investor visa, aims to attract high-net-worth individuals to invest in the U.S. Trump said he expects sales to begin within two weeks, with the potential for millions of cards to be issued.

The administration is creating a mandatory online registry for undocumented immigrants over 14. Once the website is live, immigrants will have 30 days to register and provide fingerprints or could face criminal and civil penalties, including fines and potential imprisonment. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem emphasized that the initiative aims to encourage self-deportation.

Immigration Enforcement and Deportations

Federal authorities charged the owners of two small businesses in Los Fresnos, Texas, with harboring undocumented immigrants–a relatively rare enforcement action against business owners for allegedly employing undocumented immigrants. The charges could signal a broader crackdown on labor violations in small businesses.
520,000 Haitian migrants will lose legal status via Temporary Protected Status (TPS), the Department of Homeland Security said late last week, putting 520,000 people who are on a legal work permit program, to become illegal and at risk of deportation starting August 3, 2025.
The Trump administration has ordered ICE to locate and deport unaccompanied migrant children. Since 2019, over 600,000 such children have crossed the border, many ordered deported for missing court hearings.

Update from Capitol Hill
Senate Republicans are pushing to reshape the House’s passed budget resolution, which advances President Trump’s agenda, including border security and immigration enforcement. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), with the help of President Trump, was able to get the House’s plan past a key hurdle Tuesday. But the plan doesn’t make 2017 tax cuts permanent and includes deep Medicaid cuts, making it controversial among Republicans who are still far from consensus.

ABIC applauds Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), and 194 cosponsors for reintroducing the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act this week, providing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS and DED beneficiaries. This can help increase wages for all Americans and keep our economy strong.

Get Involved

Join one of ABIC’s Councils of 100 and let your voice be heard with your peers – sign up here. The Council of 100 is a coalition of top business leaders working to advance common-sense workforce solutions.
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Industry Spotlight

Will we continue leading the world in tech innovation, or will restrictive immigration policies set us back?

The U.S. will require 1M+ additional STEM workers by 2033, a 10% growth rate—three times that of non-STEM industries (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Foreign-Born STEM Workers make up 43% of STEM PhDs in the U.S., rising to 60% in computer science.
Nearly half of $1B+ U.S. startups (which create jobs here) were founded by immigrants.

Only 3% of U.S. high school grads enter STEM fields. Expanding STEM education is essential to addressing this gap, but that takes time. Read more.