WASHINGTON — Salt Lake business leaders made their views on immigration policies known to Utah's congressional delegation during a series of meetings here Wednesday.

The Salt Lake Chamber organized the visit for 22 local business leaders to help them get their message across, said Natalie Gochnour, chamber vice president for policy and communications.

The Senate is taking up an immigration bill this week, but the vote on it has been delayed until after the weeklong Memorial Day recess.

The chamber visit participants circulated a two-page "Statement of Immigration Principles" to the delegation, outlining their views on what should be done.

"Immigration policy is inextricably tied to the U.S. economy and the nation's businesses, especially those in the Western United States, which depends on an immigrant work force and an immigrant consumer population," the statement said. "By acknowledging such dependency, we can all help maintain a strong economy for our businesses, our employees and the nation as a whole."

The chamber would like Congress to adopt a "reasonable" guest-worker program that would not force employers to go through an "unnecessarily complicated process to be able to hire needed workers legally," according to its statement.

The chamber also wants to eliminate a cap on worker visas and replace it with a "market-driven limit," so foreign workers can only work when there are jobs available that businesses cannot fill with an American worker.

The businesses would also like to see an update on Social Security number and work-permit data bases so employers have better tools to verify the identity and citizenship status of the people they are hiring.

In addition to immigration, the visitors also discussed health-care reform, transportation issues and pandemic preparedness, Gochnour said.

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