Authored by Brad Feld, managing director, Foundry Group; Mike Jorgensen, chair of the board, Colorado Springs Business Alliance; Kelly Brough, president and CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; John Brackney, president and CEO, South Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; Sarah MacQuiddy, president, Greeley Chamber of Commerce.

Since our nation’s founding, immigration has played an integral role in our economy, as workers and families are drawn here by the promise of opportunity and the allure of achieving the American dream. In the process, billions of dollars in consumer spending are added to the economy.

However, the issue is also an emotional one, with no shortage of rhetoric and political posturing. That rhetoric is merely noise that covers up what the business community recognizes are the real problems — whether it’s highly educated students who are forced to go back to their home countries where they will compete with our own workers and businesses in the global marketplace or a visa system that undermines Colorado’s robust tourism industry — we need reform.

Unfortunately, our lawmakers have focused more on the politics around the issue than on workable solutions. Our