Vermont business leaders support immigration

A 25-year-old Vermont business group is the latest in a string of prominent political and business voices to speak up against anti-immigrant rhetoric that has risen to the forefront of the presidential campaign.

www.rutlandherald.com

Published December 15, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Vermont business leaders support immigration By Andy Clark Staff Writer A 25-year-old Vermont business group is the latest in a string of prominent political and business voices to speak up against anti-immigrant rhetoric that has risen to the forefront of the presidential campaign. In a Thursday statement, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility condemned anti-immigrant rhetoric as bad for communities and the economy. The group said immigrants and refugees are an important part of business success in Vermont. Board members were considering what would happen to the labor market if Vermont no longer accepted refugees. Dan Barlow, VBSR public policy manager, said, “Some of our board members were concerned when they heard of fears expressed about Syrian refugees and serious rhetoric along the same lines coming from candidates for president of the U.S. That’s what prompted the statement. Several of our businesses have benefited from the talents of immigrant employees.” According to the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Resettlement programs such as VRRP are intended to provide relief from that status of flight and fear by enabling refugee clients who have cleared U.S. vetting processes and have been granted resident status to assume stable lives free from persecution. Amila Merdzanovic, director of the Vermont field office for VRRP in Colchester, said, “We used to have resettlement offices for the Waterbury, Montpelier and Barre areas, and we did place people in Middlebury at one time in the 1990s. But now our offices are entirely focused on resettling families in Chittenden County. If our clients had in recent times moved south to places like Rutland, we would know it. They are free to settle wherever they want as soon as they leave their planes. There aren’t any refugees in Rutland.” The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program is the only resettlement program in Vermont. Bram Kleppner, CEO of Danforth Pewter of Middlebury, said Danforth employed refugees at one time. However, Kleppner said, “my colleague, who has been here for 20 years, can’t remember any issues that refugees presented while working here in the late ’90s and the early part of this century.” Mark Curran, CEO of Black River Produce of East Springfield and a VBSR board member, stated “There’s a labor shortage in Vermont. We’re always looking for more help. The problem is that few young people are available, we don’t have a growing population, and so we have an aging state. The board speaks for these labor market interests on behalf of 750 business members.” He told a story about a successful company that was prospering with a number of refugees. “Gourmet Art out of Williston had a successful warehouse business to high-end stores for four or five years and they had about 20 or more Bosnian employees during that time. They closed their doors seven or eight years ago because of competition from a Chinese company that completely undercut their pricing.” According to the VBSR statement, “Immigration enriches Vermont’s communities and economy. Vermont should embrace immigrants and refugees fleeing war zones and condemn extreme rhetoric to restrict entry to the United States based on skin color or religion as fundamentally un-American.” Furthermore, VBSR’s directing board found that immigration fuels and renews the quality of labor that makes Vermont’s businesses so competitive. “As business people, we believe diverse pools of applicants allows businesses to hire the best and brightest — creating a more qualified workforce. Diversity also brings innovation and creativity to the workplace, allowing for new approaches to problem solving and boosting productivity.”