Austin Mayor Stiehm's report on immigration

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9/21/2007 9:45:42 AM
Here is a copy of Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm's report on immigration, issued Thursday:

When I initially decided to run for mayor, the issue I felt most important was the justice center and the fact that the Mower County Sheriff's Department and the Austin Police Department could possibly end up in separate facilities. It soon became obvious to me that primary issue of concern to the people of Austin was the issue of immigrants in Austin. My position became that, yes, the immigrant issue did need to be looked into. We had and still have many issues pertaining to immigration in our area that need to be addressed.

Since becoming mayor, I have toured both Quality Pork Processor and the Hormel plant. I have observed the operations and the ethnic makeup of the workers. And as a police officer in Austin for 30 years, I felt that I was knowledgeable in the area of the immigrant community. I have studied the immigrant issue as I would investigate other issues.

Austin's economy is based largely on the pork processing industry. Our plants process the meat, our farmers raise the hogs, and the Weyerhaeuser, Austin Packaging Company and many of our other industries also assist in the processing, sale and transportation of their products.

I have observed the hiring practices of Hormel Foods and Quality Pork Processor, and I know they are actually exceeding what the governement requires of them. I know from talking to them that both companies would very much prefer hiring people who are legal; it makes for a much more stable workforce. The people who run these companies also know that the federal system is broken and needs to be completely overhauled.

In the 1980s Austin went through a period that divided us. Even though this took place more than 20 years ago, we are still paying the price. We have seen our city transformed. We used to be one of the most prosperous towns in Minnesota. We are now qualifying for government programs based on income levels. What can we do to regain our past economic prosperity? I'm not sure of the answer, but I do know it is not to go backwards; we need to go forward in a new direction.

There are some facts that are irrefutable. One is that the United States is not replacing our work force through our birth rate. So where are the replacement workers going to come from? Yes, we could pay our workers more, but to ask our home companies to do so unilaterally would invariably price them out of the market.

We need worker replacements and many of these, if not most, will be immigrants. This is not in the control of local officials, but there are no other realistic options to our workforce shortage. It is important for us to try to see to it that the makeup of this immigrant workforce is as positive for the future of Austin as possible.

When a true, national immigration policy is in place, the criminal element would be removed from the immigrant workforce prior to their entry into the U.S. Since there is no policy or process in place now, we are left to deal with the results. With no checks on the people coming to our community, are we to take the oversimplified solution of trying to get rid of all of the immigrants? That would prove both impossible and impractical.

Sometime in the near future, the federal government is expected to enact policies to deal with immigration. At that time many of our current residents may become legal and hopefully someday citizens. In the meantime, we need to do what we can to deal with the results of the mess created by the lack of direction and policy of our federal government. The policy that Austin should pursue would be a policy that is best for the City of Austin and its citizens.

Austin law enforcement is handcuffed as to what they are allowed to do with regard to enforcing immigration laws, but we do need to talk about ways of dealing with the real problems and the fact that we are becoming home to some very undesirable people who are here illegally. We cannot and should not be asked to ignore this issue, and we need to consider enacting ordinances to assist law enforcement in their effort to make Austin as crime-free as possible.

I have spoken to officers and the chief of police on ways that we can assist them with enforcement, and I believe there are things that can be done and these are being looked into, such as rental and housing ordinances. In the meantime, we need to realize that the immigrant community is not going anywhere. They are a part of our community now and we need to deal with it. Will we leave our children a legacy of conflict and hate, which is something our city has had more than our share of, or will we be able to overcome these feelings and move forward in a positive direction?

Change is always a scary thing. We in Austin have had to endure much change in recent years. We have seen Hormel Foods go from a family business to a Fortune 500 corporation. The Hormel family took measures to take care of our city, such as seeing to it that the corporate offices remain in Austin. In addition, the Hormel Foundation pours millions of dollars into Austin. The Hormel Institute is a huge asset to town, and it may, in the future help pave the way to different avenues of economic revitalization, giving Austin another international presence.

There are currently only six cities in the country that have enacted anti-immigration legislation. Many more cities recognize the need to utilize the immigrant workforce, and I have seen cities in Minnesota competing for this workforce.

I have had to modify my own beliefs in some areas since becoming mayor, the reason being that I now have a lot of information that I did not have before. I have sought out the opinions from many different sources, and these are not conclusions that I would have anticipated prior to becoming mayor. They are also not conclusions that everyone will be happy with. But they are, I believe, conclusions that are in our best interest.