Immigration ForumSponsored by “Healthy Together” Initiative, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation
This Week’s Forum
Jack Geller, from the Center for Rural Policy and Development, St. Peter, presented demographic information that provided a broader context for a discussion on immigration. Southern MN has experienced a significant increase in the number of people of color and Latinos in recent years. Especially in towns with food processing industries, that influx has been notable. Immigrants tend to be younger and of child-bearing age, in contrast to an aging mainstream in many rural communities. Immigration has brought a stronger workforce, new demands on school districts to meet the challenge of educating children with limited English proficiency, increased economic value ($484 million in the Reg. 9 study of Latino residents), a lesser strain on added public services ($48 million in the Reg. 9 study), and also contributed $121 million in taxes ($45 million state and local—Reg 9 study). Mr. Geller made the point that regardless of how one feels about immigration, we all have a vested interest in the education and success of the children (immigrant and non). In a not too distant future, it is they who will be the workforce that defines our communities, our communities’ ability to draw business investment, and the security of social systems that support us, such as social security. If we withhold support and allow struggling children to emerge as an unskilled, uneducated workforce, the face of our communities will reflect that choice.
Patti Fritz, representative for the Faribault area, added remarks about the importance of seeking positive and humane solutions to the challenges facing us. She invited people’s input and ongoing dialogue. Gwen Jackson, school superintendent, and Deb Wall, ESL programs, shared about efforts in the Faribault schools to embrace diversity and work with the families and children to promote integration and success.
Participants were then invited to talk in small groups about the issues and concerns that they wish to see addressed as the dialogue continues in the future.
(See summary)
The background information did not directly lead to a discussion of undocumented immigrants. They form a smaller part of a larger demographic change that in itself has called southern MN communities like Faribault to adapt. We felt that it was important to present that picture as well and perhaps distinguish it from the more limited discussion of how we are to address the tensions the issue of undocumented presence raises.
QUESTIONS/CONCERNS/ISSUES
• Undocumented persons in community and current proposal % of undocumented in Rice County
• Assimilation/Balkanization
• Bring full participation into community
• Cost of failure to educate
• Barriers – How to remove them
• Concern over economy – globalization – why is it happening
• Cost of undocumented health, education, social, legal, (social services might be being accessed
• Find solutions talk to each other – need to get to know each other to find solutions. (Cultural diversity base)
A Perspective on the Issue of Undocumented Presence
(This statement of the issue is presented by Bob Kell, Catholic Charities, coordinator of theDiversity Coalition’s Healthy Together Initiative. It is not intended as an official position of the Diversity Coalition or its Board.)
The Faribault Diversity Coalition and Faribault Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored a public forum Thursday evening to begin to promote dialogue around issues of immigration affecting southern MN and the Faribault community. The forum was planned in light of recent legislative proposals on both the federal and state levels that have clearly marked the issue of undocumented presence as a key issue in the coming year.
At issue is the fact that as many as 11 million persons are living in the U.S. without documented status. These are persons who either entered the U.S. without papers or who overstayed a visa that permitted their entry. The other 70% of immigrants in the country have permission to be here, either as naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or workers and students with visas. Because current immigration limits, quotas, and laws do not provide for a road to legalization for many of those who are undocumented, these men, women, and sometimes children live in the shadows, unable to settle and often with nowhere to return to. Even those who are here as documented persons and who have a possibility to petition for their spouse, children or parents, face waiting times of years before their families can be united. And while it is often thought that economic reasons are the main motive for immigration, nearly 70% of all immigrants between 1995 and 2001 came for the reason of family reunification. A documented permanent resident from Mexico, for example, who wishes today to bring a spouse or child will have to wait: immigration is now processing only such petitions filed before April 15, 1999.
The situation is made more complex as new persons, faced with the obstacles to legal means of immigration, choose to cross the border without documents. Attempts to enforce border patrol have driven people further into remote desert and mountain areas, tripling the death rate at the border in recent years. Yet the migration doesn’t stop. People still choose to risk the crossing in the hope of finding a life they do not see possible where they are. And as with any risky behavior, there are always those who take advantage of people’s fear and vulnerability.
The situation raises questions. How can some order be brought to bear? Do we resort to stricter enforcement or do we look to some comprehensive reform of the immigration system? Looking the other way for economic reasons has been the practice. Immigrants have been the workforce in many less desirable, low-paying jobs, and the lack of a work permit has often kept undocumented workers there. Without the permission to live and work openly, lives have remained vulnerable and a stable future elusive. Will the discussion focus on laws that are broken or on these human persons who regardless of their immigration status retain membership in the “common, world-wide fellowship of women and men.” (John XXIII, 1963)?
New legislative proposals have taken both roads. The Sensenbrenner house bill (H.R. 4437 proposed strong border enforcement and would make undocumented presence a felony. The proposed McCain-Kennedy Secure American and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 (S. 1033 and HR. 2330) calls for comprehensive immigration reform which would design a path to lawful permanent residence for the undocumented, provide additional visas for family reunification, and legal avenues for migrant workers to enter the U.S.
Somehow we will all be part of this political debate. Many lives depend on how this discussion is resolved. As a Diversity Coalition with a mission to promote respect and understanding of all residents of Faribault, we feel this is a critical issue for all of us to grabble with and contribute to.
