Business Coalitions Urge Congress to Act on Immigration Reform

A coalition of American business organizations has sent a letter to the 119th Congress demanding immigration reform "as soon as possible" to address a shrinking workforce, citing Congressional Budget Office projections that U.S. population growth has slowed to an average of just 0.2% per year.

That figure, the group writes, is less than one-fifth the rate the country sustained from 1975 to 2024. The letter comes from the American Alliance for Workforce and Border Security, an effort organized under the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and is signed by organizations describing themselves as "American job creators across all business sectors."

The signatories frame their appeal as the logical sequel to the current administration's enforcement agenda. "President Trump's commitment of unmatched resources and attention to securing the border has laid the foundation for the critical next step: securing our economy by growing our workforce," the letter states.

The demographic case the coalition lays out is stark. By 2031, annual deaths in the U.S. will exceed annual births for the first time in the country's history, according to the CBO projections the letter cites. The U.S. population will be 4.5 million people smaller by 2035 — and 5.4 million smaller by 2055 — than previously projected.

The coalition argues these numbers amount to a workforce shortage the private sector cannot solve on its own. With millions of open jobs across the economy, the letter contends, employers need a legal immigration system sized to labor market reality rather than one that treats immigration primarily as a security question.

The letter's political logic is notable. Rather than opposing the border enforcement push, the business groups explicitly build on it, positioning expanded legal immigration as the reward for a secured border. That framing is designed to give pro-reform lawmakers on both sides of the aisle cover: enforcement first, workforce expansion second.

The demands arrive at a moment when the 119th Congress faces pressure from multiple directions on immigration — from enforcement-focused members pushing restrictionist measures and from employer groups warning of labor shortfalls in sectors ranging from agriculture to technology.

The CBO data underpinning the letter gives the coalition a concrete rebuttal to arguments that the U.S. can simply grow its way out of labor shortages through native-born population growth. A country whose deaths exceed its births by 2031, and whose population projections have been revised downward by millions within a single decade's horizon, faces a shrinking pool of workers regardless of how individual industries perform.

Whether the 119th Congress converts that demographic argument into legislation remains the open question. The letter's signatories have made clear they intend to keep the pressure on, and the alliance's next moves — Capitol Hill advocacy, sector-specific campaigns, or coordinated lobbying with state and local chambers — will signal how hard the business community plans to push the workforce-and-border-security linkage in the months ahead.