Businesses are paying a steep price for the U.S. Congress' failure to fix an immigration system that's illogical, contradictory and ineffective. Raids, such as those late last year on meatpacking facilities in six states, are disruptive to businesses and to people's lives. The price is especially high in Washington state, with our dependence on a large immigrant population to support high tech, agriculture, construction and international trade.

Businesses in Washington have a significant stake in fixing the system. The shortage of skilled workers in crucial professional fields in this region is exacerbated by visa quotas that run out months before each new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Employers, even those who have shown a clear, long-term need for workers with specialized skills, often wait years to get visas for their workers. In eastern Washington, fruit often remains unpicked in the fields for lack of workers. Visas for nurses are no longer available.
 
Over 250,000 residents of Washington do not have lawful immigration status. Yet most of them are part of our workforce. They work illegally, often using false documents, because we have failed to create a guest worker system that will enable them to work legally. Consequently, as enforcement tightens, penalties on employers for hiring unauthorized alien workers will almost certainly increase in frequency.

The public is not aware of the many hidden costs of this broken system. Our colleges and universities have long attracted the world's best talent, but very often such students cannot get visas to work in the U.S. American employers cannot hire them because there are only about 65,000 visas available each October, and those visas run out by May, before most students graduate.

When the United States was the only place where high-level jobs were available, workers would do anything they could to stay and find a job. But today, increasingly, there are good jobs available in India and China. So U.S graduates return to their home countries to help build the industries of the future, rather than fight the U.S. immigration system. In a world where intellectual capital is the wealth of the future, why is it that we severely handicap U.S. businesses in the competition for top international talent?

Every decade we seem to have new proposals to "reform" the immigration system. But instead of reform, we pass ever harsher laws against illegal immigrants. We cause human misery and instill fear without addressing the issues at hand. We need a law that is fair and enforceable. This time the system needs to be fixed right.

The law must meet the legitimate needs of business and families. It must also increase our nation's security by mandating smart border enforcement. Building impenetrable walls is expensive and hopeless, and the image of America it presents to the rest of the world is hardly in keeping with our history. We are a nation built by immigrants. We must find a way for immigrants to work legally in this country.

Congress needs to pass a bipartisan bill that creates a workable immigration system. Immigration problems are far too complex for quick fixes. A broad coalition, including business, is urging the new Congress to act swiftly to complete work on a fair, practical immigration-reform plan. Americans want a comprehensive approach to immigration reform; over and over, public opinion polls consistently indicate that more than 70 percent of Americans favor a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship and a guest worker program.

Such reform must attack the sources of the problem by creating: