Director for the American Business Immigration Coalition speaks at Rotary Club
Published 12:06 am Wednesday, October 11, 2023
- Yahel Flores from the American Business Immigration Coalition spoke to the Rotary Club of Salisbury on how businesses and citizens can contribute to solving immigration issues in this country. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
SALISBURY — From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month acts as a time to recognize a large portion of the population for all that they do to make America what it is today. To honor this time of the year, the Rotary Club of Salisbury had Yahel Flores, the Carolinas state director for the American Business Immigration Coalition, speak at its weekly meeting on Tuesday.
“Our goal is to provide economic mobility, economic task force, and get businesses involved in the immigration issue overall in both state, local and federal,” Flores said.
Flores says that the coalition accomplishes this by securing a platform for business owners, both large and small, to share their thoughts and experiences with immigration. The Latino population and their GDP impact in North Carolina has steadily increased over time and industries like agriculture, construction and software development have a steady percentage of them working in those fields. Local Latino business owners representing La Alcancia, Velazquez Inc., Mean Mug Coffee Company and Gegorek & Associates Realty, LLC were at the meeting to illustrate the positives of having diverse demographics in local communities.
The labor shortage facing the country and North Carolina is staggering. North Carolina only has 59 available workers for every 100 open positions according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobs without anyone to fill them.
When it comes to finding resolutions to labor shortages, Flores explained that expanding work authorizations through parole, which allows people who are in the process of applying for citizenship the right to work during that period of time, could be a step in the right direction. In order for that expansion to occur, Flores wants everyone to be a part of the solution.
“I think it’s important for us to get involved as much as possible as the Latino population, Latino business owner populations, but also not just minimizing it to Latinos and Hispanic businesses, but across the board of all the community,” Flores said.
