Government Documents Confirm Trade Deal Increases Foreign Workers
Earlier this year, Congress pushed through legislation that gave President Obama the ability to implement his immigration agenda through trade agreements. (See FAIR Legislative Update, June 30, 2015) Specifically, Congress approved trade promotion authority (TPA) which gives the President the authority to negotiate trade deals that Congress can approve or disapprove (by a simple majority vote) but cannot amend. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Apr. 21, 2015) FAIR opposed TPA because it has huge implications for immigration policy — namely a large trade deal the Obama administration is negotiating, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), where a “key feature” of the TPP is a “temporary entry” guest worker program. (Id.)
At the time, TPA supporters and the Obama administration denied that immigration was a component of TPP. (See newsmax.com, May 13, 2015) However, official U.S. Trade Representative documents recently obtained by Breitbart News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request contradict the Obama administration claims. (Breitbart News, Sept. 14, 2015) Indeed, the FOIA proves that there is an entire chapter in the TPP on immigration titled, “Temporary Entry for Business Persons.” (Id.)
To date, the 12 nations negotiating the TPP have not reached an agreement due to a dispute on an unrelated portion of the deal. If finalized, Congress can only prevent the immigration provisions from being implemented by voting against the entire agreement.
http://www.fairus.org/legislative-updates/legislative-update-9-22-2015#1
