Thread: One Town's Concerns Led to Report on Immigration

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5801042.html

One town's concerns led to report on immigration
Gov. Pawlenty heard complaints from Worthington officials about phony IDs.
Dan Browning, Star Tribune
Last update: December 24, 2005 at 8:55 PM

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty's controversial report this month on the costs of illegal immigration in Minnesota was prompted, his staff says, by troubles in the prairie town of Worthington, one of the state's most diverse cities.

The views that officials in the southwest Minnesota community voiced in the fall to the governor -- that illegal immigration was creating complications for police, schools and hospitals -- are among a spectrum of concerns stirring strong political debate on the issue.

Worthington Mayor Al Oberloh said the town's concerns came to a head when Worthington's administrator, Bob Filson, did research for a forum concerning the challenges immigrants pose to local governments. Most stem from phony identification documents.

Asked what he thought of Pawlenty's report, Oberloh said: "Our issue has not been the fact that we have illegal immigrants here. They're contributing. We could care less about the ones that are here working and trying to better their families."

Oberloh said he just wants to make it easier to find the relatively small numbers of immigrants who commit crimes -- and then keep them out once they've been deported.

Jobs at hog farms and meat-packing plants around Worthington have made the town of 11,300 a magnet for migrant workers and immigrants.

Police in Worthington are reporting problems with illegal immigrants that range from drug arrests to traffic stops, Oberloh said, and the phony IDs that some of them use tie up officers and make it difficult to solve crimes.

The mayor said he mentioned these concerns to his golf partner, Melvin Platt, who runs Worthington Regional Hospital. Platt said fake IDs are a serious concern for doctors, too, because their use can result in erroneous patient records, which could lead to deadly mistakes when someone else comes in using the same name.

A local judge and the superintendent of schools also weighed in with complaints about false names and IDs. So Oberloh called a series of private meetings with Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., and a staff member from the office of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

Oberloh alerted the governor's office in September about the growing concerns, and Pawlenty met with Worthington officials Nov. 29, said Brian McClung, the governor's spokesman.

For that meeting, and others, the strategic planning office prepared a report concerning the cost of illegal immigration in the state, McClung said.

The report asserts that there are 80,000 to 85,000 illegal immigrants in the state, costing the public $188 million a year. Advocates for immigrants, along with some state officials, criticized those conclusions, saying the report failed to calculate the economic benefits undocumented workers provide.

On Thursday, the Star Tribune reported that Minnesota's top demographic experts doubt some of the claims the report on illegal immigration makes. Pawlenty defended the report Friday on his weekly radio show.

Several others who attended meetings on the issue with the governor said no one wants to harass undocumented workers. Rather, they said, they just want to find better ways for them to enter the country legally, such as under the "guest worker" program suggested by President Bush in a Nov. 28 speech.

Worthington Police Chief Mike Cumiskey said such a program must be large enough to serve the needs of employers, so that federal authorities can focus on the presumably smaller number of immigrants who will still enter illegally.

"For the most part, the people that are here who are undocumented, they're not criminals," Cumiskey said. "For the most part, the people are coming here to work."

But because they can't get legal identification, they are forced into an underground economy and are afraid to report crimes or other problems to police, he said.

John Wade, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce president, attended one of Pawlenty's meetings. "We are looking for meaningful solutions to this issue," Wade said. "The intent is not to be punitive."

On the other hand, Rep. Gutknecht opposes the guest worker program. He has planned a meeting Thursday in Worthington to discuss his views. He supports legislation allowing local police to arrest and hold people suspected of violating federal immigration law.

That would suit Marlene Nelson of Owatonna, a founder of an advocacy group called the Steele County Coalition for Immigration Reduction. " 'Guest worker' is nothing more than a back-door amnesty," Nelson said. "They're not coming for the cold climate. It's the welfare," she said.

Bette Voss, who works for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bloomington, agreed. "Your logic tells you, all right, these people, they only come here for the money," she said. "They speak Spanish. They're used to the desert and hot weather. What are they doing in Minnesota?

"And the answer is the fact that we give everything away."

Rick Aguilar, a commissioner on the Metropolitan Council, has a different viewpoint. He was born in the United States after his parents illegally crossed the border from Mexico. Still, he wants to stem illegal immigration.

"I saw the way that a lot of [illegal immigrants] had to live, and we shouldn't want that for anybody," he said.

Pawlenty said in a recent meeting that he knows that the economic benefits of legal and illegal immigrants "outweighs the costs to the state," Aguilar said. Even so, he said, they both agree it's time for reforms.


Dan Browning • 612-673-4493

That would suit Marlene Nelson of Owatonna, a founder of an advocacy group called the Steele County Coalition for Immigration Reduction. " 'Guest worker' is nothing more than a back-door amnesty," Nelson said. "They're not coming for the cold climate. It's the welfare," she said.
Bette Voss, who works for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bloomington, agreed. "Your logic tells you, all right, these people, they only come here for the money," she said. "They speak Spanish. They're used to the desert and hot weather. What are they doing in Minnesota?

"And the answer is the fact that we give everything away."

agreed.

Rick Aguilar, a commissioner on the Metropolitan Council, has a different viewpoint. He was born in the United States after his parents illegally crossed the border from Mexico. Still, he wants to stem illegal immigration.

Again, another news report with NO mention of the impact upon America's working poor regarding the impact upon wages of an excess illegal labor supply and how the illegal's demand for housing causes rents to rise.

When the "supply-demand equation" works in the elite's favor all is well, no problemo, esse.

When the illegals disrupt the supply-demand function of our so-called capitalist economy in a manner that harms the lower classes, the working poor, nary a word is heard.

Oh well. Some day the lower classes will finally realize the class war is here, they just haven't realized it yet and mustered for duty to fight the elites of this nation...... just as Mexico and other countries down yonder need to overthrow their elites.

yes soon the underclass will include the middle class note that Bill gates actively displaces american workers by importing Indians who are here on work visas and so will not agitate- and lets not forget amazon.com who has recently outsourced to Romania