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Republican Pierce Bush is out with his first television ads in the hotly contested GOP primary battle for one of the Houston areas most competitive congressional seats.

Up until now, Republican Kathaleen Wall, who is largely self-funding her campaign, has been the only contender on area television in the battle for the 22nd Congressional District.

In Bushs new ad, he flashes images of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto ORourke talking about immigration reform proposals. Then Bush comes on the screen and warns: Democrats want open borders, and its dangerously naive.

His tough take on the border comes as many of the 15 Republicans running in the March 3 primary are also brandishing their tough immigration stances. Walls TV ads have promised to help build a border wall with President Donald Trump. Former Pearland City Councilman Greg Hill has touted his experience as a former Border Patrol agent. And Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls, in announcing his campaign in a national TV interview, slammed Congress for not securing the nations porous border.

The ads come just days after Bush was endorsed in the primary by retiring U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land. Olson has held the seat since 2008. The 22nd District includes most of Fort Bend County, plus parts of Brazoria and Harris counties.

Bush, a grandson of the late President George H.W. Bush, has never run for office before. Hes been the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters and says that experience has taught him to be the kind of leader that can get things done in Congress.

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Republican Pierce Bush warns of dangerously naive AOC, Beto ORourke in TV ad - Houston Chronicle

With LexingtonFayette Countys unemployment rate hovering between 3 percent and 4 perecent over the past yeareven hitting 2.9 percent in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsthe local economy is officially in a state of full employment, as economists call it.

While this is good news for job seekers, many employers in some of Central Kentuckys key economic sectorsnamely agriculture, construction and hospitalitysay theyre finding it increasingly difficult to fill open positions and retain qualified workers. As lawmakers debate Americas immigration policy, some employers are finding that bringing in temporary noncitizen workers to fill the jobs that others wont, or cant, take may be the only solution to their labor woes.

A 2017 study by Fayette Alliance found that one of every 12 jobs in Fayette County is either directly or indirectly linked to agriculture, which generates $1.3 billion income, profits and dividends annually. The industry accounts for more than $2.3 billion in economic activity each year, and results in $8.5 million in tax revenue.

But finding people to fill those positions is also becoming more difficult, said Will Snell, co-director of the Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program at the University of Kentuckys College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Farmers [primarily tobacco, equine and dairy farmers] in Kentucky have been challenged with higher labor costs and volatile labor supply, but through the H-2A program they have been able to secure enough labor." Will Snell

Farmers [primarily tobacco, equine and dairy farmers] in Kentucky have been challenged with higher labor costs and volatile labor supply, but through the H-2A program they have been able to secure enough labor," Snell said. However, like many businesses, it is becoming harder to find and keep labor.

H-2A visas allow noncitizen workers to come here legally to work in low-skill, temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs for which U.S. workers are not available. A typical length of stay is 10 months or less, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

According to the Kentucky Workforce and Employment Cabinet, Kentucky will process more than 550 H-2A contracts for more than 760 farmers, resulting in jobs for an estimated 3,500 guest workers.

Farmers are absolutely having a terrible time finding people to work for them, said Rick Alexander, executive director with the Agriculture Workforce Management Association. If youre going to have any kind of labor at all, youre going to have to rely on H-2A visas.

The problem stems from the historically low unemployment rate, he said. Lower unemployment means fewer Americans are willing to take farm jobs. Additionally, many undocumented workers arent willing to take farm jobs, he said.

I dont think its a change in the administration or in policies, Alexander said. Its the economy. There are fewer and fewer undocumented workers to do the work in the ag industry. In a better economy, like weve had lately, those workers get jobs in the construction industry or somewhere else where the work isnt so hard. Farm work isnt easy work.

Hiring foreign workers isnt inexpensive, though. Alexander said farms that come to him to hire workers have to first advertise their jobs and ensure there are no American workers who are willing and able to take them.

Farmers who hire foreign nationals through H-2A visas are also required to pay prevailing wages to the workers, provide them with transportation to and from their country of origin to America, provide them with housing and transportation to run errands like grocery shopping or going to the bank once a week, and to provide them with the utensils needed to cook their own food or provide food for them.

Housing is often provided on farms, he said, and in some cases foreign workers come back year after year.

In this area, some employers bring those workers back for 15 or 20 years, he said. They have to go back each year, but in many cases they end up being part of the family.

Despite some extra costs, the program isnt pricier than hiring an American employee, Alexander said. Farmers dont have to pay taxes on the wages they pay H-2A visa holders, but they do have to carry workers compensation insurance for those same workerssomething they dont have to do with Americans who choose to go into farm work.

And those who carry H-2A visas are required to file annual income tax statements and pay taxes on those wages, he said.

Bob Weiss, executive vice president for the Home Builders Association of Kentucky, said his industry, like many others, is also suffering from a workforce shortage.

What weve found is that the recession of 2008 was so severe that many workers left our industry, he said. They found jobs elsewhere and never came back.

Weve talked to our lawmakers about the troubles were facing, Weiss said. In fact, wed love for Congress to have immigration reform that make sense so we could bring in extra workers.

Some employers in Kentucky say whats needed is common sense reform that would allow them to increase the number of workers in the area who might be willing to take jobs in their industries. According to the Central Kentucky Policy Group, federal policy changes like renewing the Returning Worker Exemption and raising the limit for the H-2B visa program are both priorities.

Many workers arrive through the H-2B visa program, which allows U.S. employers that meet specific regulatory requirements to bring in foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs. H-2B classification may be extended for qualifying employment in increments of up to one year each, and a new, valid temporary labor certification covering the requested time must accompany each request. The maximum stay allowed under an H-2B classification is three years. The yearly national cap on additional visas for returning workers was raised by 30,000 for 2019, but that cap was reached long before the years end.

Pam Avery, the 2018 and 2019 president of the Bluegrass Hospitality Association, and general manager of Embassy Suites Lexington Green, said the labor crunch in the hospitality industry isnt one she believes will let up soon, either.

The job environment in hospitality has been pretty tight for the past 24 months, and I think it will continue for some time to come, she said of many open positions that are difficult to fill. Engineers, housekeepers, wait staff I dont think were going to see this [tight labor market] let up anytime soon. Thats the world in which we live right nowits not an industry where the jobs are valued as much as they used to be.

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Getting the Job Done - http://www.smileypete.com

Watch the 2020 Iowa Brown & Black Forum on Facebook here.

DES MOINES Amy Klobuchars been gaining steam on the campaign trail recently with her moderate message, but on Martin Luther King Day, she was asked if she was the kind of white moderate that King once wrote prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.

Klobuchar was unequivocal: No.

At the time, there were plenty of whites that would perhaps profess to be helpful to African-Americans but were actually holding back a lot of federal civil rights legislation. That is not me, the Minnesota senator said at the 2020 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum, presented by VICE News. The forum featured nine Democratic candidates addressing issues of concern to black and Latinx voters.

Klobuchar highlighted her longtime support for immigration reform and restoring the Voting Rights Act, as well as her support of nominating African-American judges. And while she conceded she doesnt know what its like to deal with the discrimination that faces African-Americans, she said ongoing discrimination is not fair and its not right, while defending her moderate brand.

I think progressive means you make progress, she said.

Klobuchar has overall supported civil rights issues, but she has a long record of hewing toward the center.

She was known as a fairly aggressive prosecutor during her tenure as Hennepin County Attorney, and she was pushed onstage about why she supported jailing nonviolent drug offenders. And in 2007, she voted to make English the official language of the United States an amendment a majority of Senate Democrats opposed at the time, including then-Sens. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders. Shes previously apologized for that vote, but given her track record, she was asked why brown and black voters should trust that she would stand against issues that might poll well but could hurt their communities.

She responded by pointing out shed taken a ton of heat in her first Senate run in 2006 for backing immigration reform. And she pointed out that while she often touts her Midwestern appeal as an electability argument, the Heartland is not all about white people, arguing the Democratic candidate would need to excite base Democrats including brown and black voters and bring people with you who are independents and moderate Republicans to turn key Midwestern states back to the Democratic Party.

And she made a bit of news on weed, which Klobuchar supports legalizing. When asked when shed last smoked pot, she said, Youd have to go back to my college days.

Klobuchar has staked her campaigns hopes on a strong finish in Iowa, one of the whitest states in the nation and one which borders her home state. Shes campaigned extensively through the states rural, more conservative areas hoping that her brand of Midwestern moderation and an argument that she can win back Obama-Trump voters can vault her into the races top tier. Shes slowly built support, creeping into the double digits in some recent Iowa polls as she looks for a momentum-boosting strong finish in the state and got a boost in her national profile Sunday night when she and Elizabeth Warren were co-endorsed by the New York Times.

But if she does succeed in Iowa and even if she scores a strong finish in New Hampshire things could get much harder for Klobuchar down the line. The racially diverse Nevada and South Carolina are next on the calendar, followed by Super Tuesday, which features a number of heavily diverse states. Roughly 40% of the Democratic primary electorate are expected to be nonwhite voters, and Klobuchar has been criticized for going all-in on Iowa at the expense of campaigning harder in other less-white places. While shes crept up in Iowa, New Hampshire and in some national polls, theres little evidence that shes made much headway with minority voters.

Cover photo: Justin Heyworth

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Amy Klobuchar Was Asked If She Was the Kind of White Moderate MLK Called a Stumbling Block to Freedom. Heres How She Replied. - VICE

To the editor:

We, the Dominican Sisters of Peace, speak out during National Migration Week to encourage a more inclusive society; one that supports and respects all its residents, regardless of birthplace or heritage. While Kansas has a history of welcoming newcomers, including immigrants, refugees, and newly naturalized citizens, many immigrants find themselves facing hostility and anger. The current political climate, with its polarizing rhetoric and intolerance, has created an environment in which immigrant and refugees are not seen as neighbors, but rather as burdens on an overtaxed social safety net. We have forgotten that these women, men, girls and boys are our sisters and brothers.

In the spirit of Catholic Social Teaching and in memory of the Holy Familys Flight to Egypt, we reject the dismissal of the immigrant or the isolation of the refugee.

Our current immigration system is morally broken. We need to lobby Congress to demand systemic immigration reform that honors the innate dignity of all human persons.

We stand in solidarity with all newcomers, and work for justice for all people.

Sister Patricia Twohill, prioress

Dominican Sisters of Peace

Great Bend

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Immigration reform should recognize human dignity - Great Bend Tribune

Will President TrumpDonald John Trump Democratic challenger on Van Drew's party switch: 'He betrayed our community' Rand Paul pledges to force Hunter Biden vote if GOP backs Dem impeachment witnesses Trump plans to divert .2 billion from Pentagon for border wall construction: report MORE make immigration a centerpiece of his 2020 reelection campaign? Pollsters, pundits and political insiders seem to think so. After all, anti-immigrant sentiment is a hallmark of the base that helped catapultTrump to election victory in 2016.

One needs to recall that in announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 2015, Donald Trump excoriated Mexican immigrants as follows: They're bringing drugs.They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. An impartial, factually-based assessment would have addressed immigration this way: Theyre bringing skilled and semi-skilled labor, which we sorely need. Theyre bringing entrepreneurs. And I assume there will be some bad people in the group.

The administrations defenders will retort that its position on immigration refers to illegal entrants only. But under Stephen Miller, President Trumps senior advisor for policy, the lines between legal and illegal immigration have blurred. Just talk to would-be visitors from developing nations (including investors) who have been denied visas of entryfor no specific reason.

With Latin America accounting for the majority of Americas current immigrants, the administrations policies and actions are clear in their implication: If you are Northern European and can speak English, come on in; if you are brown and Spanish-speaking, stay away. (Emma Lazarus, the poet who inscribed the base of the Statue of Liberty, must be turning over in her grave.)

Social, moral, political and legal issues aside, increased immigration is an economic plus for the U.S. Nearly 45 million people in the U.S. are foreign born, according to Census Bureau. That equals 15 percent of the population. A myriad of economic studies finds that immigrants are a net economic benefit to the country. And while new arrivals may depress some wages initially, they go on to contribute economically more than they cost and do not take jobs away from the pre-existing workforce.

In fact, they fill roles that nations need to succeed, and often take jobs that native-born citizens are not interested in taking, such as low-level service jobs. In a telling economic statistic, the International Monetary Fund found that a 1 percent increase in the share of migrants in the adult population increases GDP per person in advanced economies by up to 2 percent in the longer term. Last year a Citigroup and Oxford University report found that two-thirds of the GDP expansion since 2011 was directly attributable to migration. Furthermore, the presence of immigrants in the workforce is associated with higher wages, higher productivity, lower unemployment and higher female workforce participation.

And lest we forget, immigrants are disproportionately represented among the entrepreneurial class. Immigrant entrepreneurs and their children founded or co-founded more than 25 percent of technology and engineering companies from 1995 to 2005. Apple, Google, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo! are notable examples. Immigrants are also more likely to obtain a patent and launch a start-up.

Still another reason we need more immigrants is Social Security. In 2020, the Social Security Administration will be paying out more in benefits than what is contributed to the system. This means that Social Securitys large current reserves will run dry by 2034. If that is the case, beneficiaries will receive only 80 cents for every dollar owed to them.

But wont the future American workforce contribute sufficiently to replenish the fund? Absolutely not. The huge bulge created by Baby Boomer retirees drawing Social Security checks will be exacerbated by the declining birth rates (meaning future workers) in the nation. U.S. births fell to a 32-year low in 2018, the fourth consecutive year of birth declines.

The Senate and House introduced comprehensive immigration reform bills in the 109thCongress. Regrettably, the two Houses were not able to reach an agreement to go to a conference committee. The end of the congressional session (January 3, 2007) marked the defeat of both bills.

Given the current political climate in the U.S., with greater polarization on the immigration issue, it is highly unlikely that the next Congress will move swiftly to pass comprehensive immigration reform. In the long term, however, such reform is inevitable. The anti-immigrant base will die off, due to low fertility rates, health problems such as obesity and opioid addiction. Meanwhile, immigrant citizens both skilled and semi-skilled will give birth in greater numbers to future voters, with the assumption (and hope) that this cohort of voters will remember where they came from and how they got here.

Jerry Haar is a professor of international business at Florida International University and a Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. His latest book, with Ricardo Ernst of Georgetown University, is Globalization, Competitiveness and Governability.

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Immigrants are an economic boon to America | TheHill - The Hill