Friday Immigration Bulletin: Senate Cafeteria FTW

The Capitol workforce is a deeply immigrant beat. Where member and staffer diversity has been elusive for generations in Congress, support workers - like cafeteria, custodial, and law enforcement - are rife with perspectives of color, including many immigrants, like in the Senate cafeteria where this week there’s news…

Senate Cafeteria Workers Ratify New Contract

The Senate cafeteria workforce is made up almost entirely of people of color, including immigrants from all over the world. These front line workers kept the cafeteria open during the pandemic, then fed thousands of uniformed military personnel in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

“We had to make thousands of sandwiches,” recalled an immigrant worker in the kitchen that day. “The soldiers were lined up … all the way down the tunnel.”

DCist reports these workers now have a contract with Restaurant Associates (the vendor that runs the Senate cafeteria) that creates a $20 minimum wage, provides a pension plan, and

health insurance.  After the news broke, workers were quick to note that many were already making more than the new minimum, but I’m told some cashiers and floor staff should see a significant pay increase.

Materials detailing the negotiated benefits were distributed in English and Spanish. Families pay $90 per month for a Kaiser Healthcare Plan without a deductible. Individuals pay $30. Dental, vision, short term disability, and life insurance plans are free, according to the information provided to the workers. I’ll keep watching this space as these changes are implemented…

Brookings: Immigrants “Complement” Economy

Brookings has a new blog out about immigrants and the economy where researchers found that “immigrant workers are broadly complementary to natives, both because immigrants work in occupations that serve an unusually wide range of industries, and also because immigrant-intensive occupations often complement other jobs.”

Most lawmakers I’ve asked on Capitol Hill are aware that immigrants are needed to complement their state and local economies. Business leaders across industries tell Congress this in private conversations and public letters. Congressional Republicans are virtually unanimous in their political rhetoric about criminality and the border, but some GOP members of the House and Senate can and do separate their enforcement talking points from the economic realities of their states and districts.

Huge national workforce shortages in essential industries like healthcare, tech, agriculture, and others are serious concerns for the business leaders, but the inflationary impact of restrictionist immigration policies is not a case most politicians want to publicly make during a midterm election cycle where raging xenophobia is mainstream.

That could change in the lame duck. With this week’s polls showing GOP gains in key the House and Senate races, a range of constituencies impacted by debilitating immigration policies are eying the lame duck for one last desperate push before potential GOP rule.

• “The immigrant workforce supports millions of U.S. jobs” - BROOKINGS

News Clips

• “Immigration advocates feel abandoned as they stare at Biden’s first-term checklist” - POLITICO
• “GOP candidate and immigration hardliner had a grandmother who faced deportation” - AXIOS

Have a great weekend! Happy early Dilwali for those who celebrate! If you are attending the Eagle Act rally in the Bay Area this weekend, I’d love to hear from you for Monday’s bulletin.