American Corporations Help Fuel Mass Migration
Investor reports and lobbying disclosures show American corporations are shaping immigration policy to lower wage growth.
Commentary published in collaboration with Unherd.
When the meatpacking giant, Tyson Foods, announced plans last month to shutter its pork plant in Perry, Iowa and lay-off all 1,200 employees, it brought rare attention to one of the most influential, less scrutinized, dynamics of America’s mass migration debate. That is, the role played by large, politically connected corporations seeking to blunt wage growth.
For this isn’t a time of crisis for Tyson. The same day the company made the announcement, Bloomberg News quoted Garrett Dolan, an executive, as saying that the firm had been actively recruiting from the waves of migrants who have ended up in cities such as New York seeking asylum. Tyson Foods, which already employs some 42,000 immigrants, said it had placed some of the migrants to work at its plants in Tennessee. “We would like to employ another 42,000 if we could find them,” Dolan said. The dual headlines caused a storm on social media, with many calling for a boycott over claims that the company was replacing Americans with immigrants who would work for less. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance described the company’s actions as the “decimation of the American Dream.”
Tyson Foods is far from alone in acting in this way. Many corporations have called for increased immigration as a solution for rapidly rising wages. And several business groups are also pressing policymakers to support programs to extend legal protections to those who entered the country without documentation. “Any pro-immigration policies that would be implemented will benefit us on increasing the availability of labor throughout the country,” said Andrew Masterman, the former head of Brightview, the nation’s largest commercial landscaping company, when pressed by investors two years ago on how he would respond to upward “wage inflation.”
“And that’s whether that’s… immigrant labor that exists in the country or whether it’s guest immigrant labor coming in,” he added, according to a transcript of his remarks. “We’re fans of that.” In 2022, Scott Salmirs, the president of ABM Industries, a nationwide building maintenance and janitorial firm, raised similar concerns on an earnings call. “The labor pressures we are currently experiencing are largely unprecedented,” said Salmirs. He cited reduced immigration, historically low unemployment and sudden demand from an economy in rebound for raising wages.
It’s a direct result of the pandemic. The closure of the border and reduction in foreign-worker visas has led to a tight labor market and the most rapid wage increases seen in a generation, particularly among the low-paid. The current numbers at the border, therefore, while a political nightmare, pose an economic opportunity to business interests. And corporate interests have not sat idly by — they have started marshaling their resources to lobby Washington for change, especially on immigration policy.
The Business Roundtable (BRT) and the US Chamber of Commerce, the influential lobby groups that helped mobilize support for the 2017 Trump corporate tax cuts, have turned to immigration reform to confront labor market dynamics. In meetings with Congress, the BRT has promoted its agenda of increased agricultural worker visas and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs, the latter of which grant certain asylum-seeking migrants the legal right to work in the United States. The Chamber, meanwhile, backs the legislation known as H.R.16, which gives long-term recipients of TPS the ability to obtain permanent resident status.
While many refugees and asylum seekers are fleeing genuine disasters and oppression, others are seeking better jobs—a dynamic welcomed by major employers, especially those in agriculture, food services, slaughterhouses, janitorial work, construction, and landscaping.
The BRT represents the chief executives of the largest businesses in America. And its board includes many firms reliant on low-wage labor, including McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Walmart, and Yum! Brands. Donnie King, the CEO of Tyson Foods, is also a member. Meanwhile, Suzanne Clark, the president of the Chamber, has cited “wage growth” as a top concern for her business members and has previously called for a doubling of the rate of legal immigration. Business lobbyists were quick to hail President Biden’s decision last year to extend TPS protections for over 470,000 Venezuelan migrants, and the administration has since announced an extension for programs granted to nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.
Business groups with a financial stake in immigration policy are also deeply entwined with the pro-immigration activist base.
The National Immigration Forum and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) are prominent examples of this relationship. Tyson Foods was among the sponsors of LULAC’s February legislative conference, which focused partly on the need to pass greater immigration protections to migrants. The event featured recorded messages from several Democratic lawmakers and a speech from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The National Immigration Forum, which has organized coalition efforts to expand TPS programs and other immigration reforms, similarly received financial support last year from Amazon, Tyson Foods, Walmart, the BRT, the Chamber, and Marek, a construction firm. Tyson Foods’s in-house lobbyist, Nora Venegas, is also active in several immigration reform groups. “Tyson Food supports bipartisan immigration policy solutions,” said Vega, at a press conference with other immigration reform leaders in 2021. “Whether our team members came as refugees or Temporary Protected Status, TPS, holders, we support policy solutions to provide them stability,” she added.