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Immigration Reform Major Issue in Minnesota Food-Processing City

By Kathryn McConnell

One election issue grabbing Austin voters' attention is immigration reform. This city of 27,000 people in southern Minnesota is home to two large pork-processing companies: Hormel Foods and Quality Pork. Those companies and Weyerhaeuser, a large paper-products firm, employ many of the immigrants who live in Austin.

The city's voters want elected officials to pass immigration laws that would lead to better control of the flow of immigrants into the United States and to their agriculture-based community.

"People are worried about losing their jobs to immigrants," said Karen Colbenson, who works for the Austin Post-Bulletin newspaper.

Some voters also suspect some immigrants in Austin may be in the country illegally. They don't want illegal residents to receive taxpayer-supported services like education and health care.

Some Austin voters believe the United States should build a fence along the country's border with Mexico, which they believe would keep people from crossing the border illegally to work, Colbenson said.

Other voters want elected officials to pass legislation that would help illegal immigrants who have been living and paying taxes in the country for several years to obtain legal residency status.

Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm reported to the city in September that the immigration system is broken and it is the federal government's responsibility to fix it. He said "lack of direction" from federal agencies makes it difficult for local officials to enforce immigration laws.

The candidates for Minnesota's 1st District congressional seat have varying views. Republican Dick Day, who is challenging the party-endorsed Republican candidate Brian Davis in a September primary, says a fence is the way to go. He also believes in heavy fines for employers if they are found to have hired workers illegally.

Davis also favors a fence and enforcement of existing laws. He says a "tamper-proof system" should be created to determine if employees and people applying for work are legally entitled to work in the United States.

Both Davis and Democrat incumbent Tim Walz favor a system that would allow people in America illegally to return to their home countries and apply for permanent residency. Davis also thinks knowledge of English should be required to obtain U.S. citizenship.

At FarmFest, an annual agricultural show in Redwood Falls, northwest of Austin, Republican Senator Norm Coleman, who is facing re-election, said August 6 that border security and law enforcement must come before establishing a program that would make it easier for immigrants to come to America for seasonal work such as in agriculture. Coleman's main challenger is Democrat Al Franken.

Austin voter Jacob Vela, a graphic designer, said a border fence would not keep out people who want to come to America. He also said an English requirement for citizenship is impractical because most people coming to the United States are adults and "adults have more difficulty learning a new language."

Voters in Austin and other cities in southern Minnesota, where corn is the main crop, also want their legislators to do something to help lower gasoline prices by supporting the adoption of alternative energy sources such as corn-based ethanol.

Davis said at FarmFest that America needs to start offshore drilling as soon as possible and to explore for oil in a wildlife preserve area in Alaska. Walz has said he supports offshore drilling but not a plan that would let oil companies gain huge profits. He would like some of the potential offshore profits to go to biofuel research.

Vela said he likes the idea of developing alternative energy sources because he does not want America to be dependent on oil-exporting countries. And "alternative energies cause less pollution," he said.

Coleman said he supports drilling off America's coastlines, developing more nuclear energy and boosting ethanol production, including from sugar beets, a crop grown in western Minnesota.

Franken said he is not opposed to offshore drilling but that it is not a long-term solution to America's energy problems. He called for more investment in developing renewable energy sources.

Source: U.S. Department of State