WASHINGTON (AP) — Business leaders and labor union officials are delving into high-stakes negotiations over a particularly contentious element of immigration reform — a guest worker program to ensure future immigrants come to the U.S. legally.
The issue has traditionally divided labor and business. Labor groups have looked askance on bringing in numerous low-wage workers, while that's an outcome businesses have favored.
The Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO have been tasked by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York with reaching a deal that Schumer and a bipartisan Senate group on immigration could incorporate into legislation now taking shape.
Both sides appear hopeful, although Schumer and others say the issue scuttled the last attempt at a comprehensive immigration law overhaul in 2007.
