Each June, Immigrant Heritage Month provides an opportunity to honor the contributions of immigrants and celebrate the powerful ways that diversity enriches America’s culture, common identity, and economy. This past month has been a time to reflect on how Amazon can continue to attract and support employees from around the world, and how we can more effectively use our voice to advocate for the rights of immigrants and commonsense immigration reform.
Although more must be done to protect and support immigrants nationwide, we are proud of the progress that Amazon has worked to advance in recent months. At the beginning of this congressional session in January, Amazon joined a full-page ad in The New York Times to congratulate President Biden and congressional leaders on their election victories and to pledge our commitment to serve as a partner in passing comprehensive immigration reform. Since then, we’ve joined a business coalition letter to the Biden administration supporting a permanent solution for Dreamers; signed a letter with other major employers urging the administration to fix current delays in processing work authorizations for the spouses of H-1B visa holders; submitted written comments to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) advocating for changes that would improve their processes and services; and submitted public comments to policymakers and government agencies calling for specific changes to our immigration system to ensure that our employees, their families, and all immigrants living in the U.S., are treated fairly.
In addition, we were proud to endorse the American Dream and Promise Act and EAGLE Act—legislation that would provide a legal pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and make much-needed reforms to green card and high-skilled visa programs that would strengthen the U.S. economy. Our leadership team has met with numerous policymakers and their staff members to encourage support for these bills and will continue this critical outreach.
Beyond directly advocating for immigration reform legislation, Amazon has joined other companies and organizations in fighting onerous and unfair rules that limit legal immigration. For example, Amazon supported the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lawsuits challenging rules that would make it harder for foreign, high-skilled workers to become Amazon team members. Additionally, we have joined lawsuits defending important visa programs that allow spouses of H-1B holders to continue working and that create employment opportunities for foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities. But we will not stop there. We will continue to explore new ways to support our immigrant and non-immigrant workforce, and strengthen those efforts moving forward as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer.
Not only is immigration crucial for the competitiveness of the U.S., it is also crucial for our customers. By welcoming the best and the brightest talent from around the world and having hundreds of thousands of employees in the U.S. from all different backgrounds, Amazon is able to more effectively create and innovate on our customers’ behalf. We look forward to engaging with leaders across the public and private sectors to advance our shared goals and finding new ways to support and advocate for employees from all backgrounds.
As Immigration Heritage Month comes to an end, Amazon’s longstanding commitment to supporting immigrants and commonsense immigration reform will continue to gain strength.
