Archive for the ‘Immigration Reform’ Category

Texas Farm Bureau pushes immigration reform in Washington

Area members of the Texas Farmers' Bureau were in Washington last week to speak on behalf of immigration reform.

Bureau State Director Russell Boening, who runs a dairy farm just south of San Antonio, said recent shortages in labor have forced his hand.

I need Congress to act to fix the broken immigration system the sooner, the better, Boening said at the nation's capital. After years of avoiding the issue, some (politicians) in Congress now say they support reform just not this year. That might make sense politically, but it's disastrous for my business."

While proposed legislation such as the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act has been on the national radar the last few years, no major national or Texas policy changes have since been made been made on an issue that has dominated political debate for much of the last decade, according to farm bureau officials.

In a phone interview later that day, Boening explained that increased deportations, the draw of oil jobs from Eagle Ford and the fluctuations of the farming industry have all contributed to a labor shortage of immigrant workers living in south San Antonio and surrounding counties such as Atascosa and Wilson.

Farmers employ many people, legal immigrants and those with work visas, who do jobs (other) Americans can't or don't want to do, the Floresville dairy farmer said. So for us, immigration reform has to fix things like border security, but it also has to (ensure) programs like the work visa remain protected.

Boening said he's talked with politicians at all levels of government about immigration reform, and while the talks have been mostly positive, no one has committed to anything substantial.

Everybody tells me, 'we need to do something', Boening noted. But what does that mean? When are we going to do it? How far are we going to go?

U.S. Rep Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who represents part of San Antonio, said in a statement that he also supports the work visa program.

I have had many conversations with agriculture groups in Texas, including the Farm Bureau, about reforming our broken immigration system to include a guest worker plan for farm workers, Cuellar wrote. As a state that relies heavily on agriculture, Texas would benefit greatly from legislative reform that creates a stable visa system for farm workers.

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Texas Farm Bureau pushes immigration reform in Washington

Immigration protester back at Chicago church that sheltered her

Elvira Arellano, a Mexican woman whose yearlong stay inside a Chicago church made her a lightning rod in the nation's immigration debate, on Sunday returned to the sanctuary, saying she plans to live there until a hearing later this year when she will ask again to be allowed to stay.

For me, this is my house, Arellano said in Spanish after the service at Adalberto United Methodist Church. I consider it my home.

Her journey back to the city after being deported to Mexico in 2007 began last week, when she crossed into the U.S. with her sons, 5-month-old Emiliano and 15-year-old Saul, along with dozens of mostly young deportees near San Diego to protest U.S. immigration laws and deportation practices.

A two-day detention led to the scheduling of an immigration hearing for September, when she can again plead her case to stay in the U.S., said her attorney, Chris Bergin. In the meantime,

Arellano was allowed to travel and arrived in Chicago on Sunday.

Not even I imagined that I'd be able to return, she said in Spanish on Sunday after getting off a plane at Midway Airport. But thank God I'm here.

Arellano said she wants to continue to speak out about immigration reform and hopes to remain in the country with her children. Her son Saul, who is a U.S. citizen, continued to live in the U.S. after Arellano was deported but soon returned to Mexico to reunite with her. He now travels between the two countries, spending summers in the U.S., Bergin said. Emiliano is not an American citizen.

Arellano wants her two sons to grow up in the U.S., not only for a better education but also because it's safer, Bergin added.

The fight doesn't stop when a mother is separated from her son, Arellano said. The fight stops when we don't want to be part of it. As long as the immigration politics of President (Barack) Obama don't change, we'll continue to see this type of activism in favor of families so they can return home.

At the airport and at two church services Sunday, Arellano was greeted by many supporters. Some displayed signs welcoming her and her sons, while others gave gifts and balloons.

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Immigration protester back at Chicago church that sheltered her

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