Thread: OR - Supporters to push for immigration reform

Area group leaders welcome news that Obama will tackle issue this year
By Thelma Guerrero-Huston • Statesman Journal

April 17, 2009
By Thelma Guerrero-Huston • Statesman Journal • April 17, 2009

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Immigrant supporters wasted no time in announcing plans for a May 1 launch to push for comprehensive immigration reform after the federal government said last week that President Obama plans to tackle the temper-igniting issue this year.



"It will not be easy," said Francisco López, the director of Salem-based CAUSA, a nonprofit immigrant-advocacy group. "It will be a fight, but we have to do it."

But with the tanking economy, some question the president's priorities.

"He should definitely focus on the economy and the millions of people here that are taking jobs that Americans will do," said Rick Hickey, the vice president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. The McMinnville-based group opposes illegal immigration.

"Those people have had a huge negative impact on the economy, and he (Obama) refuses to see that," Hickey said. "If illegal immigration was good for the nation, California would be the most prosperous state in the nation."

Data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the failed 2006 and 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bills would have generated $66 billion and $48 billion, respectively, in new revenue from payroll and income taxes. This year, a number of sectors, including the AFL-CIO, have joined forces in support of immigration reform.

Word that Obama plans to dive into immigration reform this year was welcomed by Bill Perry, the vice president of government affairs for the Oregon Restaurant Association, which has pushed for comprehensive immigration reform for years.

"Employers need access to an adequate and legal supply of workers," he said. "If this is not addressed soon, then the problems with the immigration system will further add to the nation's economic woes."

Elizabeth Peters, the spokeswoman with the Oregon Association of Nurseries, which employs nearly 12,000 seasonal workers and more than 10,000 full-time workers each year, agreed.

"Comprehensive immigration reform would provide a legal and viable process for allowing skilled individuals to work in agriculture jobs without the high level of fear and threats those workers face today," she said.

The two associations are part of 22 Oregon organizations that make up the Coalition for a Working Oregon, which represents more than 300,000 workers in the state.

The last time the immigration issue was on the table was in 2007, when former President George W. Bush tried to get a bipartisan bill he supported through Congress. The bill died after a public backlash.

During his campaign for the White House, Obama met with farm workers and immigrant groups across the country and pledged to support immigration reform that would include a legalization component for illegal immigrants.

His promise resonated with a large number of U.S.-born Hispanics, who leaned toward his presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, during the primaries.

tguerrero-huston@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6815




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The real Reformation would be for our Gov't to enforce the immigration laws already on the books.