WBEZ91.5
August 14, 2012
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make immigration a bigger issue in the presidential race, and he’s making his case in the candidates’ hometowns. Bloomberg started on Tuesday at a forum in Chicago.
The Partnership for a New American Economy hosted the forum and brought together more than 450 Republican, Democratic, and independent mayors and business leaders to drum up support for immigration reforms that the group hopes will create jobs. The partnership released a report on Tuesday that states that immigrants started 28 percent of all new small businesses in the U.S. in 2011 and that immigrants are more than twice as likely to start businesses than their native-born counterparts.
Bloomberg told Chicago business leaders that immigrant jobs are essential to economic recovery, but he says neither President Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney has talked enough about that or other immigration issues.
