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Immigration is an emotional issue for many people. They imagine hordes of nonwhite people illegally entering the country through the southern border. In reality, an estimated 42% of immigrants who are here illegally actually entered the U.S. legally and then overstayed their visas.

The recent influx of unaccompanied minors at the U.S. southern border underscores the point that, first and foremost, a nation must have secure borders. This is an essential requirement that in our high-tech era can be addressed in many ways: fencing, drones, agents.

Reuters reports that, as of last Tuesday, about 9,200 unaccompanied children were in the custody of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refugee office that manages a government shelter system for the kids the highest number since 2019.

Most are teenagers, but hundreds are under age 12.

About two-thirds of unaccompanied children caught at the border since Oct. 1, 2020, have been from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Reuters reported, noting, Mexican children make up most of the remainder.

The children who have relatives here who are willing to provide homes for them should be allowed to stay. Those who dont should be safely repatriated, which may discourage others from coming. The Biden administration also needs to talk to the Mexican government about turning these minors back at its own border. We cannot take in all of the people who would be happier in our country.

While we fixate on illegal immigration at our southern border, our vast northern border is neglected. Is it because the groups violating our northern border are more acceptable? They may also be nonwhite, but come from different places than south of the border. They could be from literally anywhere, but they may already speak English and assimilate more easily. They are breaking the law, too, but for some reason we simply arent as concerned.

Many would maintain that workers here illegally are a valuable addition, as immigrants have always been in our country. They extol the contribution that they have made and see no reason to penalize them for their attraction to a place where they may have a better life than the one they left. Shouldnt we value their aspirations as we have those of many generations of immigrants before them?

Why are we so focused on illegal immigration at the southern border and not elsewhere? Because these people broke the law and cant be allowed to profit from it? But what about the entities, many large corporations, that employ them? They broke the law, too, but suffer no consequences. Unlike their workers, their motives are purely exploitative.

Perhaps its the law itself that is broken.

The dairy industry of Vermont, for instance, depends upon such workers. Without them, this important state industry would collapse. That state has tried everything to get these necessary employees made legal but has come up against the usual roadblocks.

And many other industries throughout the country employ such workers, people who, as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson pointed out in a column published in the Feb. 21 Sunday LNP | LancasterOnline LNP, follow the rules and stay out of trouble.

They have jobs. They pay taxes. They are an integral part of the economy. They are not taking jobs away from Americans but doing jobs Americans wont do, often in places where sparse population makes their services essential. In fact, were these workers to suddenly vanish from the economy, it would suffer a severe blow.

Because they constitute a group that wishes to fly beneath the radar, we are often unaware of their presence among us and the contributions they make. Their lives have been politicized by those who fear that if they obtain voting rights, they will vote for one party exclusively. Some 11 million people are held hostage to such fears, not to mention people who made no decision to come but were brought here as children and have never known another country.

So we have a large underclass of people who arent part of the system although they have been here for many years. Their behavior is governed by fear of being deported. They are afraid to report crimes. They are unlikely to get vaccinated or to get necessary medical attention. If you have a car accident with someone driving without a valid license and uninsured, what then? Any people not incorporated into our system of laws can present a problem, one that should be rectified for all our sakes. Freed from the fears and stigma of illegality, these millions of people could become more productive citizens, able to participate in a much wider range of activities.

They should not be a political football, permanently consigned to limbo because some fear they will encourage others to come. The terms recently proposed for incorporating them into our society are rigorous. It would be a long process to achieve full citizenship, but we would all benefit from it.

Louise Barnett is professor emerita of American studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Lancaster County resident.

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We need to reform the US immigration system [column] - LNP | LancasterOnline

In the first two and a half months of 2021, illegal immigration has reached a crisis point. There have been more than 200,000 illegal border crossings with as many as 5,000 illegal crossing encounters in one day. In order to maintain the rule of law and keep criminals out of our country, we must continue working to enhance our border security.

One way to do this is to take away opportunities to work illegally in the United States. Congress can do so by creating a viable agriculture labor program that allows workers to come into our country, work legally, and return home.

To do so, I introduced bipartisan legislation that creates an employment- and merit-based program to ensure that not only are agriculture workers in the United States legally, but that they remain law-abiding and continue to contribute to our farms, ranches, local communities, and economies. It also streamlines our existing H-2A program to give growers who utilize the temporary guestworker program more flexibility and to allow access for year-round sectors like dairy, and it phases in the mandatory use of E-Verify to ensure workers maintain a legal work status.

This need for a reliable workforce is something farmers and ranchers throughout Central Washington have known for decades, and the dire situation was only worsened by the global pandemic. Our region is known around the world for producing high-quality specialty crops many of which are extremely labor-intensive to grow and harvest. As much as employers would prefer to hire Americans to work in their fields, there just simply isnt enough interest from domestic workers to get these jobs done.

This puts our farmers in a tough spot. Many of them rely on the burdensome, outdated, and bureaucratic H-2A guestworker program to secure enough labor to get their crops to market, and others employ experienced agriculture employees, many of whom have been working in fields for decades. All of these workers present documentation, but farmers are not equipped with the ability to determine if this paperwork is current or authentic.

This is unacceptable. Washingtons agriculture industry is valued at more than $10 billion. It simply doesnt make sense that such a huge sector of our economy would rely on a workforce that may or may not be in the United States legally.

For decades, Congress has attempted to pass comprehensive immigration reform packages. We have not been successful. That is why I, along with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, worked with agriculture groups, farmers, labor organizations, and farmworkers to negotiate a bipartisan, targeted solution for our nations agriculture sector. This week, this solution the Farm Workforce Modernization Act will come to the House floor for a vote.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught the United States just how fragile our food supply chain can be. Farmers and farmworkers are the often-unseen driving force that keeps food on our tables and on shelves at grocery stores. I reintroduced this legislation to effectively address our agriculture industrys labor crisis and provide much-needed stability for farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers across the country.

We absolutely must enhance our border security, and I continue to work in Congress to do just that. But we also must reform our broken immigration laws and ensure that those who wish to pursue a legal pathway or come to our country to work are able to do so.

We want to give these agriculture workers many of whom have worked on farms and lived in the shadows for years the chance to get right with the law while, at the same time, making sure that we have an efficient system for both farmers and farmworkers to use to ensure a future legal workforce.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act is the solution our agriculture industry deserves, and in 2019, it became the first agriculture labor reform bill to pass the House since 1986. Now, I am working with Senators on both sides of the aisle to ensure we can make even more progress and send this legislation to the Presidents desk.

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Strong agriculture labor program needed to stop illegal immigration - The Star of Grand Coulee

Authorities said at least seven people, some of whom were in the country illegally, were taken to local hospitals after a pickup crashed into a tree during a multi-agency Lavaca County chase. Tuesday

That chase is one of several immigration-related incidents in the past week or so in the Crossroads. They come during a recent surge of migrants at the southern border.

The chase began after an attempted traffic stop on Fairwinds Street west of downtown Hallettsville about 10:25 p.m.

Authorities were attempting to stop a white Ford F-250 in the 800 block of West Fairwinds Street when the vehicle took off, according to a Facebook post from the Hallettsville Police Department.

The pickup truck traveled south on U.S. 77 at a high rate of speed, officials said. The vehicle traveled down multiple county roads before crashing into a tree on County Road 461, where it was engulfed in flames, officials said.

About three or four people fled the scene of the crash, which occurred on County Road 461 south of Hallettsville and have not been detained, Lt. Erica Vaccaro of the Hallettsville Police Department said Wednesday.

Lavaca County EMS transported at least seven people involved to area hospitals, according to another Facebook post.

Vaccaro said local officials have turned information about the incident over to the Department of Homeland Security.

Officers determined that several of the people involved in the crash were in the country illegally after conducting interviews with them, Vaccaro said. Some of the people involved were carrying Mexican identification.

One of the people who evaded custody was confirmed to be a Guatemalan citizen after interviewing with Border Patrol officials. That person turned themself in to Lavaca County deputies after speaking with a nearby landowner in the area, Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon said.

The pursuit does not appear to be connected to an illegal immigration investigation in Victoria County where at least 12 immigrants officials suspect were in the county illegally evaded arrest last week, said Justin Marr, Victoria County sheriff.

Also unrelated to the Victoria County pursuit, a woman from Honduras was found dead Friday alongside a Goliad County highway after a truck driver spotted her body from the roadside. Investigators confirmed she was involved in a human smuggling or trafficking operation after a family member called the Victoria Police Department with a tip that the woman may have been dumped in the area, said Roy Boyd, Goliad County sheriff.

Marr said those incidents and their subsequent investigations can be taxing on the agencys resources.

We were depleted by the March 8 chase, he said. Since there were multiple vehicles and two different scenes, we had to call in deputies who were off that day to keep up with daily patrol duties.

A recent surge of migrants that began last year has resulted in thousands of immigrants arriving at the border and the deployment of FEMA resources to assist with the growing number of unaccompanied migrant children. Additionally, Gov. Greg Abbott has announced the beginning of Operation Lone Star, which would deply more federal and state resources to the border.

In February, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 100,000 encounters on the nations southwest border. That was up from about 78,000 in January.

In 2019, there were more than 1.1 million enforcement actions involving immigrants, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Already this year, almost half as many actions have been reported.

Marr, Harmon and Boyd said they also have seen an increase in human smuggling activity in their counties in recent months.

We strongly encourage citizens to lock their doors and to keep their houses and vehicles locked, Vaccaro said.

Mark Rosenberg reports on local, regional and breaking news for the Victoria Advocate as a Report for America corps member. He can be reached atmrosenberg@vicad.comor 361-574-1264 or on Twitter at @markrosenberg32. To support local journalism at the Advocate through Report for America, go toVictoriaAdvocate.com/report.

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Authorities: Crash near Hallettsville that injured 7 likely involved illegal immigration - Victoria Advocate

Migrant farmworkers with H-2A visas harvest romaine lettuce in King City, Calif., April 17, 2017. (CNS photo/Lucy Nicholson, Reuters)

By Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

The U.S. House of Representatives approved two separate immigration bills March 18, clearing an initial hurdle for two groups seeking a path toward citizenship: younger unauthorized immigrants called Dreamers and migrant farmworkers.

Both measures passed in the House along party lines, for the most part, with but will face greater opposition in the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. bishops were among those from various faith-based organizations, including Catholic groups such as the Franciscan Action Network and the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, voicing support for the bills: the American Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Modernization Workforce Act.

They are aimed at helping many hardworking immigrants reach their God-given potential, not only for their benefit but for that of the entire country, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the bishops migration committee chair in a joint statement released March 19.

Inspired by the life of Christ, the Catholic Church remains committed to ensuring that all persons within our society are given the opportunity to flourish, especially those so often relegated to the margins, the prelates said, calling on the Senate to pass these measures swiftly.

Issuing the statement were Los Angeles Archbishop Jos H. Gomez, USCCB president, and Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington, chairman of the USCCBs Committee on Migration. Bishop Dorsonville also had written a letter to all House members March 15 urging passage of the bills.

We once again call on legislators from both chambers of Congress to work together to enact broader, vitally needed reforms to address our broken immigration system, the prelates said in their statement. We pledge to work with Congress and the administration on this effort, which we believe is an urgent issue to uphold life and human dignity.

Via a late March 18 news release from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a network of 55 national, faith-based organizations with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual.

As people of faith, we believe that everyone deserves legal protection, especially dreamers, TPS holders and farmworkers, said Scott Wright, director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach.

TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, is given to eligible nationals of designated countries who are present in the United States.

As we urge the Senate to quickly pass these bills, Wright said, we remind them of what Pope Francis said to Congress during his 2015 visit: Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities.'

Stephen Schneck, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network, called the House action a positive and welcome step to protect migrants, strengthen our economy, and keep families together.

We heed Pope Francis call to build bridges, not walls and urge the Senate to act swiftly in passing the equivalent bills to help our vulnerable immigrant brothers and sisters, he said.

The National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd also weighed in, calling on the Senate to approve the measures this spring.

In talking about the Dreamers, farmworkers and others covered by the House bills, Lawrence E. Couch, the centers director, said: They held the hands of their parents as they made the perilous journey north. They hand-pick our strawberries. They clasped hands upon touching down in America after fleeing natural disasters. Now it is time long past time for members of Congress to raise their hands and vote for passage of the Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

These undocumented youth, TPS and DED (Deferred Enforced Departure) holders, and farmworkers are American in all but a piece of paper, Couch said. They face continuing threats of deportation and have lived so long in uncertainty and with harassment. They deserve peace and the ability to work freely and safely.

In the halls of Congress, political fighting over whether there is an immigration crisis at the border intensified during the debate over the measures.

While neither bill is expected to become law, they serve more as bellwethers of what the battle for immigration reform could look like under President Joe Biden.

Earlier in the year, the Biden administration rolled out a road map toward that goal under the name of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced in Congress Feb. 18. It seeks to legalize some 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently in the U.S., with a special focus on reunification of families.

It would offer immediate permanent resident status to some groups, such as young adults brought into the U.S. illegally as children, farmworkers and those under a program known as Temporary Protected Status, while also providing an eight-year path to citizenship for others.

The American Dream and Promise Act for unauthorized immigrants has enjoyed strong backing in the past as it seeks to provide young adults brought to the country illegally as children a path toward citizenship.

All House Democrats voted for it, and nine Republicans voted with them. It passed 228-197.

Currently, young people known as Dreamers are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

The House measure would similarly benefit immigrants in the country under the TPS program, which grants a work permit and reprieve from deportation to certain people whose countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or exceptional situations so they can remain temporarily in the United States.

Seven Republicans broke ranks and voted for the bill in 2019 in the House, but the proposed legislation didnt have the votes to pass in the Senate.

Early signs show a tough road ahead. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., urged Republicans March 17 against voting for the Dream Act, instead steering the conversation toward the border.

The bill would only worsen the flow of illegal immigrants to the U.S., Scalise said to colleagues in a statement.

The Farm Modernization Workforce Act passed 247-174; 30 Republicans voted for it and two Democrats opposed it. It would allow farmworkers to earn legal status and later they also can apply for permanent residency by showing prior employment and continued work in agriculture.

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House passes two immigration bills with citizenship provisions - The Record

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called 17th century Ahom general Lachit Borphukan a freedom fighter who contributed to Indias independence from colonialism, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said medieval saint-reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva had premonitions of illegal immigration in Assam.

The problem of illegal immigration in Assam is widely believed to be an outcome of the British rule, the Partition of India in 1947 and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.

I am proud to be here by the mighty Brahmaputra, in the land of the great Sankaradeva. He was one of the brightest lights of Indias cultural nationalism who saved Assam. If Congress had succeeded with its conspiracy and politics of appeasement, this land would have threatened the national security because of infiltrators, Mr. Adityanath said at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in central Assams Lanka on Wednesday.

He also addressed party rallies at Kalaigaon and Goreswar in north-central Assam.

Sankaradeva alerted people to the issue of illegal immigration. Thats why Congress has never tolerated him. Congress has always resorted to appeasement to capture power, not caring about your progress or welfare. The people of Assam have paid a price for it for a long time, he said.

The Congress slammed the U.P. Chief Minister for his ignorance.

This underlines their knowledge about the culture they claim they are going to protect. Yogi-ji should have brushed up on Assams history before saying Sankaradeva battled infiltration in the 15th century, Bobbeeta Sharma, the chief of the State Congress media department, said.

She reminded the U.P. Chief Minister that the saint-reformer was against idol worship and the exploitation of people by those who followed Manusmriti. Srimanta Sankaradeva believed in the assimilation of society and was against the caste system, she said.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee would like to gift some Assam history books to Yogi-ji as well as the Prime Minister who said Lachit Borphukan was a freedom fighter, she added.

A polymath, poet, playwright, socio-religious reformer, Sankaradeva is credited with devising new forms of music, theatrical performance (Bhaona), dance (Satriya) and literary language (Brajavali).

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Assam Assembly Elections | Adityanath links medieval saint to illegal immigration, slammed by Congress - The Hindu