WOODBURN (Oregon) INDEPENDENT

October 25, 2007

WB mayor speaks on immigration issues

Kathy Figley spoke recently at Leage of Women Voters of Clackamas County

By David Howell

Immigration has become a major talking point, locally and nationally, evoking strong feelings among politicians, business people and citizens alike.

The reasons run the gamut: some see a steady influx of foreigners as a drain on state and federal government funds and resources; others see needed workers in blue-collar manual or service jobs that Americans do not want.
And immigration is the kind of controversial and complicated subject one county civic group likes to hear about.

The League of Women Voters of Clackamas County listened as two speakers discussed their experiences with immigration last week at the Gladstone Senior Center.

Woodburn Mayor Kathy Figley and Rene Cummings, an immigration attorney with Catholic Charities, shared their thoughts and observations with about 40 attendees.

Figley has led the Marion County city of more than 22,000 residents since 2002. She previously served 12 years on its City Council and six years on its parks board.

"(Immigration) is an issue that has become highly emotional and somewhat divorced from the real world that we live in," she said. "And a national discussion on this topic is sometimes hard to come by."

Figley said she sees Woodburn as "a laboratory for some changes taking place in society."

Data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau found the number of immigrants reached a record high of 37.5 million in 2006, with almost 20 percent of U.S. residents speaking a language other than English at home. There are estimated to be about 12 million undocumented foreigners in the U.S., but the number may be significantly higher.

Woodburn is 51 percent Latino, and also has large Russian, Ukrainian and retirement populations. Figley said about one-quarter of the city's population was Latino when she moved there in 1978.

The mayor said about one-third of Woodburn's residents are age 19 or under, with 70 percent of the school district's students coming from Latino families.
And immigrants are having more children than Caucasians, so in the future "Woodburn and the U.S. will be living in a different bubble," she said.

Figley said some local Latino families have roots going back 400 years to what is now the state of New Mexico, while other residents have arrived illegally in recent years from Central and South America, as well as Mexico. Since the 1950s, migrant laborers have been needed to work in the Willamette Valley, with many moving from Texas and southern Border States. Now, most of the downtown businesses are Latino-owned, she said.

"The population has continued to diversify over the years," she said. "Some families have both legal and illegal members."

Figley said some "middle-class flight" in Woodburn has been replaced by immigrant farmworkers, who want to put down roots by buying homes and starting families.

As Congress continues to grapple with the immigration issue, she said she did not think the idea of a mass deportation of illegal aliens from the U.S. would be feasible or advisable.

"You would be breaking up thousands of families and tearing households apart," she said.

Although the strain can be felt by schools catering to more English as a Second Language students, immigrants are "hard-working, energetic people with strong family values, which is a plus," she said.

Figley said Woodburn is trying to develop ways to "reach out to, serve and communicate" with newcomers from different backgrounds.

"For many years, we have tried to have Russian and Spanish language material available and staff who speak more than one language," she said.

Cummings said she represents immigrants, mostly Mexicans, in a wide variety of cases for the nonprofit Catholic Charities.

"Family migration are the cases we mainly deal with. People who want to bring family members here," she said, adding that she also handles asylum and citizenship cases and petitions for victims of domestic violence.

"Most clients want to become citizens so they can bring their parents here, so this has a very human aspect to what we do. They have to wait six years, which is a long time to have a family separated, as there are only a certain number of 'green cards' given out each year. Some people have to wait 20 years to emigrate to the U.S. on a family visa."

Cummings said a 1996 change in federal law, which tightened penalties and instituted up to 10-year bans, changed the pattern of immigration, especially with regard to Mexico.

"For centuries, people would come from Mexico to work, make money in the U.S., and then return," she said. "The upshot has been those people come and don't leave."

She said Congress was looking at an immigration "point system" based on a person's skills, education and family ties to U.S., among other considerations, "so that companies would be able to get the workers they want."

But currently the Social Security Administration is cracking down on companies that employ illegal aliens, instituting heavy fines on firms.

"A lot of employers will be desperate to find new people," Cummings said. "It is really farmers who will be most out of luck if this happens."

And, Cummings said, until the country comes to grips with the immigration issue, some immigrants will continue to hide in plain sight.

"A lot of migrants are living on the margins and don't want to come out of the shadows," she said. "There should be a way for people to legalize if they paid their taxes, followed the law, have been a good person. There should be a way for them to come out of the shadows and into society.

"Everyone can agree it (illegal immigration) is a problem, but everyone has a different solution to the problem.”