Thread: Iowa's Future Linked to Immigration

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs. ... 01/archive

There is other info in addition to the story at that link...

Not to unfairly attack the DMregister, but they have a track record of being extremely liberal so I'm sure Jose de Jesus isn't going to be the best writer for an accurate article here. I've read some of his other stuff and its just a hunch...



JANE NORMAN and JOSE DE JESUS
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS

April 2, 2006


Maria, 26, is an illegal immigrant, and an Iowan.

She works, but her documents are phony. She drives, but she has no license.

Maria crossed the U.S.-Mexico border five years ago and came to Marshalltown to work for the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant, where she's paid $12.15 an hour to work on the kill floor.

Now there's a chance that Maria and an estimated 12 million more undocumented immigrants across the nation could someday become U.S. citizens, as Congress launches into a passionate debate over the role of undocumented immigrants in U.S. society.

It's also possible that they could be branded criminals, and that good Samaritans who assist the immigrants could risk jail. It all depends on what lawmakers in Washington decide in the coming weeks.

Iowans — from the descendants of Irish immigrants in Emmetsburg to the Dutch in Pella and the Germans in Amana — are watching the debate closely. Immigrants are fueling Iowa's population growth, and they are helping drive the Iowa economy, working in manufacturing, meat and egg processing, the service industry and many businesses that look overseas for high-tech skills. Many Iowans are watching with concerns that waves of uneducated, impoverished newcomers are overburdening their communities.

And Iowa's newest residents are watching.

"I feel frustrated that I have to be here illegally," said Maria, who spoke on the condition that only her first name be used by the Des Moines Sunday Register because she fears reprisals and deportation. "I feel like I can't ask for my rights."

***

Illegal immigrants fear being identified. But those with concerns about too much immigration and its impact on the United States also are reluctant to speak out publicly because, they say, they will be intimidated or harassed or accused of racism.

One critic is Francis Picray, 79, of Des Moines. Picray said he fought in World War II after enlisting as a 17-year-old, viewing horrors in places such as the Philippines. Now, he said, he sees money for assistance for veterans being drained because of the cost of providing public services such as education and health care for undocumented immigrants.

"They drive without licenses. They do as they please," he said. "They are here illegally, and yet nobody does anything about it. . . . These people come here, and they have nothing when they come here, but they want everything."

Picray said he objects to the way news articles describe immigrants. "They are invaders. Ask anybody who was in World War II and anybody with a little common sense," he said.

He said he does not understand how people who are not citizens of the United States can expect to have the same rights as citizens. "They are coming here illegally," he said. "It isn't that we don't want immigrants. We've had immigrants for years."

A generation ago, the strong tide of illegal immigration into the United States was the worry and problem of border states such as Arizona, Texas and California.

Not Iowa. Not the distant upper Midwest, at least 1,500 miles of highway from any crossing point on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Quietly, steadily, change has come. By 2030, members of minority groups are projected to number more than half a million of Iowa's 3 million population, with the biggest increase in the number of Hispanics.

There's already been a 200 percent increase in Iowa's official Hispanic population between 1990 and 2005, and an unofficial increase likely far larger, according to estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center. The center estimated in 2004 that Iowa's illegal population numbered between 55,000 and 85,000.

A recent report published by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire on demographic trends in rural and small-town America said that "an important emerging trend in the recent growth of rural America is immigration."

Through most of the 20th century, virtually all immigrants settled in urban areas, but recent research suggests immigration to rural areas is on an upswing, said author Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor at Loyola University in Chicago.

A map of the nation pinpointed 297 counties in which the foreign-born population exceeded 5 percent for the first time in 2000 — including a half-dozen counties in Iowa, more than in Missouri, the Dakotas or Wisconsin.

The importance of such immigration is more important for the future than the present, Johnson said, as immigrants "bring the vigor and energy of youth to rural communities that have lost much of their young adult population for decades."

The impact of enforcement
So as Congress considers changes in immigration law, and thousands of immigrants in cities across the nation take to the streets in rallies and protest marches, the impact on undocumented immigrants woven deep into the fabric of Iowa's communities — most of them Hispanic — could be profound as well.

Families fear a federal enforcement crackdown in their homes or workplaces will tear them apart.

Religious leaders worry that under the House bill, aid given to immigrants in the country illegally could be characterized as a crime, dragging ministers, priests and church members into jail.

"This would criminalize Catholic Charities, for example," said Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa and an opponent of the House bill. "It would actually be a criminal penalty against them if they aided and assisted anyone who is an undocumented alien."

Employers fret that their labor pool for factory workers, landscapers and restaurant cooks could shrink, or that they'll face tough new penalties for unknowingly accepting forged documents.

Shirley Peckosh, co-owner of Peck's Green Thumb Nursery in Cedar Rapids and co-chairwoman of the Legislative Policy Committee of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, went to Washington to meet with President Bush and underline business support for a temporary worker program. "The president was so in tune with the issue," she said.

But in Congress, there is concern as well about a nation bowing under the weight of so many immigrants in the country illegally, and the dangers posed by borders left yawning open to possible new terrorist incursions.

"Ever since Sept. 11, we've got to look at things differently," said Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Des Moines Democrat and member of the House intelligence committee. Boswell backed a tough enforcement bill approved in the House — although he said he views that bill as a starting point and is open to changes.

"We need border and interior enforcement, first and foremost," said Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. "If aliens know that there's a reward at the other side of the tunnel, they will storm over our agents." Grassley has advocated additional federal agents for states such as Iowa, where he said 40 immigrants who were gang members were apprehended by federal agents last year.

Division on worker programs
In a year in which control of Congress lies in the balance in midterm elections, the issue has become intensely political in Washington, particularly for divided Republicans.

A coalition of business groups, labor unions, Hispanic groups and religious leaders is advocating some type of temporary worker program, with Bush on their side. "No one is served by an immigration system that allows large numbers of people to sneak across the border illegally," Bush said Monday. "Nobody benefits when illegal immigrants live in the shadows of society."

On the other side is a group of Republicans in Congress who back tough enforcement. They are against an approach that they term "amnesty," or forgiveness for the crime of crossing the border illegally.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who is a leading member of an influential House immigration caucus, said the country has to decide how much immigration is too much, and see the impact on U.S. citizens with a high school education who are competing with immigrants for blue-collar jobs.

Many people who are unemployed could take the jobs that undocumented immigrants are doing, he said.

"The elite class in America is becoming a ruling class, and they've made enough money by hiring cheap illegal labor that they think they also have some kind of a right to cheap service to manicure their lawns and their nails," said King. "And so this new ruling class of America is expanding the service class in America at the expense of the middle class."

The House in December voted 239-182 to approve legislation that includes no provisions to allow undocumented immigrants to become legal.

House increases penalty
Mark Grey, head of the Iowa Center for Immigration Leadership and Integration at the University of Northern Iowa, said that won't work for Iowa. "In Iowa, we absolutely have to accommodate these people" or become a state filled with aging people and few younger workers, he said.

Perhaps the most controversial portion of the House bill is a provision that would make it a felony for immigrants in the country illegally to remain in the United States, creating a new crime called "illegal presence" that includes up to a year in jail. Under current law, it is a misdemeanor.

In addition, the House bill would create a national database of Social Security numbers so that legal status could be verified. Penalties for violations by employers would be increased from the current $250 to $5,000 per immigrant.

New two-layer fencing would be built along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, new cameras and lights would be installed, and canine tracking teams would be added. Undocumented immigrants not from Mexico who are captured near the border would be detained, whereas many are now released. More detainees would prompt a need for more state and local jail cells.

Boswell and three Iowa Republicans — King, Jim Nussle and Tom Latham — voted in favor of the bill that's become known as "the Sensenbrenner bill" for its author, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The fifth member of the delegation, Rep. Jim Leach, a Republican, voted no.

Opponents say it will destroy the economy and harm families. "Millions of otherwise law-abiding people will wake up one morning as criminals," said Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. "They will forever be part of a second-class society."

Kirk Martin, coordinator of Hispanic outreach programs for Catholic Charities in Des Moines, said the bill's passage was deeply upsetting and frightening to undocumented immigrants in Iowa, many of whom live in isolated clusters in small towns far from urban centers, tied to their jobs. "We saw just overwhelming anxiety among folks about their future in the state," he said.

It prompted wrenching discussions. Mencho Lira of Marshalltown said he would consider divorcing his wife, Maria Lira, to help his sister-in-law, who calls herself Ana Moreno, obtain permanent residency. Moreno asked that her real name not be published because she is in the country illegally and fears deportation.

"When it's your family, you want to have them closer to you," said Mencho, of Marshalltown, who was born in Fairmont, Minn., to immigrant parents. "The people who come here want to live a better life, and I have no problem with that."

Maria Lira, Mencho's wife and Moreno's sister, said she would do anything for her family. "I'm willing to let it happen," she said.

Senate bill keeps door open
The issue now has moved to the floor of the U.S. Senate, where sentiment appears stronger for inclusion of some kind of guest worker program - especially after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets calling for legalization during the past 10 days. An eastern Iowa Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Rudolph Juarez, protested with other members of the clergy at the Capitol, donning handcuffs to symbolize the criminal charges illegal immigrants could face.

Marshalltown schools saw a walkout of more than 150 student protesters, most of them Hispanic, on Wednesday.

While Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, initially proposed a bill that emphasized border enforcement only, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an alternate that would allow undocumented immigrants in the United States as of January 2004 to apply for a six-year visa.

Such immigrants would be required to pay a $1,000 fine, go through criminal background checks and indicate that they would learn English. When the visa expires, they could apply for a green card and within five years could apply for citizenship if they pay taxes, learn English and pay another $1,000 fine.

Harkin said he backs an approach in which immigrants in the country illegally can remain in the United States but pay a fine and apply for permanent residency after a period of years. Revenue from the fine could help pay for the program, he said.

He said that in March, he met with a group of immigrants, some of them in the country illegally, at United Trinity Methodist Church in Des Moines.

"They live in constant fear," Harkin said. "They live in the shadows. Many pay taxes and make Social Security payments but receive nothing in return. They want to become loyal, contributing American citizens and to pursue the American dream. But instead they are living an American nightmare of anxiety, exclusion and exploitation."

It's not clear that the polarizing issue will be resolved in an election year. Grassley said he believes that after the Senate approves an immigration bill, it will become bogged down in a conference committee with the House. "Next to Social Security, it's the most political issue that we're dealing with in this Congress," he said.

The raging debate touches Iowans such as Pat Brown, a State Farm insurance agent in Ames who has formed a nonprofit group that seeks to rehab dilapidated, empty houses. The houses then are sold to low-income people, many of whom have been immigrants.

"We have a significant number of Spanish-speaking people in this community — they do jobs that Americans won't do," said Brown. "It is an interesting thing, what's going on in this country."

Recent polling on immigration has found concerns among members of the public.

A poll by the Pew Hispanic Center that was released on Thursday found that 52 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed said that immigrants take away jobs and housing from Americans, and are a burden on the country. That was up from 38 percent in 2000. The poll was conducted from Feb. 8 to March 7.

In an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from March 10 through 13, it was found that 56 percent of those surveyed agreed that temporary worker status should not be granted to those who are in the country illegally, while 39 percent said it should be. It also found that 71 percent said they were more likely to vote for a candidate for Congress who favored tighter controls on immigration.

A Quinnipiac University poll from Feb. 21 through 28 of 1,892 voters nationwide found that 62 percent opposed making it easier for undocumented immigrants to become citizens, and 32 percent supported the idea. Asked about making it easier for such immigrants to become legal workers, 54 percent said they were opposed and 41 percent were in favor.

In Iowa, an Iowa Poll conducted earlier this year of 801 adults found 68 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the president's handling of the immigration issue while 21 percent approved. Bush has been in favor of some type of guest worker program for immigrants in the country illegally.

She works, but her documents are phony. She drives, but she has no license.

Maria deoesn't seem to mind breaking any of our laws, does she? As long as Maria gets what she wants.

Here's a tip for you I.C.E. boys, The Swift meat packing plant in Iowa is employing admitted illegal aliens. I guess the illegals and Swift aren't too concerned about the enforcement of our laws, since they'll proudly print it in the newspaper.

She drives, but she has no license, and no insurance. If you tangle with her on the road your insurance will go sky high. She has fake documents .....
Swift packing has been doing this for years. I can remember immigration making raids in them in the 80's in the Texas panhandle close to New Mexico. Swift had to pay FINES then - and then they would have to hire the local people for a while and pay the legal wage until they got their illegals back. The illegals lived in squalor and the slum lords of the little towns made money off of them by renting what ever shack they had that should have been torn down. The landlords knew that if the tenant got caught and sent back that they would be back in a few weeks and Swift would "keep their job for them". Swift helps them come in and if they are going to that they should provide them housing and transportaion. Be responsible for their greed.

Hard working law abiding citizens, other than crossing our border illegally.

False documents.
No drivers license.
No insurance.

Sure there are more, but how hard would it be for INS to follow up on this, do a surprise inspection and send some people packing?

Pinto Bean

Forget about Immigration Laws, LOCK em up for FORGERY! Is THAT still a crime??? How come the Forgery charge is never mentioned as a separate crime?? You get caught with a FORGED document and see what happens to you, an AMERICAN! I am so SICK of this!