Stand firm: Resist Trump’s deportation agenda, protect immigrants

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Immigrants and domestic migrants are an essential element of Minnesota’s current and future prosperity.

That’s the conclusion of a recent Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report that confirms the importance of foreign-born immigrants and their families to the state’s economy, growth and future. The study says the state’s 495,000 immigrants are the leading driver of population and workforce growth; nearly 60% of Minnesota’s total workforce and employment growth came from foreign-born Americans over the past several years.

Much of that growth, data shows, occurred through legal immigration. In addition, the state’s documented and undocumented residents are becoming more educated, skilled and entrepreneurial, contributing mightily to the state’s future innovation and productivity.

At the same time, President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies threaten our state’s growth and sow tremendous fear with tactics that sometimes include abducting the wrong people. The policies also create panic among legal immigrants about what could happen to their families and neighborhoods. Further compounding the terror campaign is the decision by Trump’s Department of Justice to single out so-called sanctuary states and cities — and their elected leaders — and lie about the mayors' motives for refusing to serve as federal ICE agents.

What’s wrong with this picture?

That is not to say that all deportations are wrong; far from it. Being in the U.S. without documentation remains illegal and it seems irrefutably correct to target convicted criminals.

Trouble is the way the feds are doing this. As a statement this week from Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL MN) says, at least seven individuals were detained by ICE in Minnesota recently under unclear circumstances, “raising urgent concerns about due process violations, workplace protections, and the unchecked power of immigrant enforcement.”

COPAL adds that the fear and uncertainty sown goes far beyond those detained; “workers now face the impossible choice between earning a living and risking arrest.”

Trump has signed executive orders that seek to terminate the temporary work visas of those from select countries. Those workers help staff farms, factories and seasonal businesses. According to immigration advocates, should those visas be revoked, Minnesota’s labor shortage would become exponentially worse.

In addition, the Trump DOJ is wrongly singling out and threatening to withhold funds from sanctuary cities and state and local governments. That includes St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, whom the White House called “sick.”

As law enforcement officers in a sanctuary city, St. Paul police won’t prevent ICE from doing its job; rather the city’s police officers will continue to do their job — protecting and serving all city residents. The mayor added that St. Paul’s crime clearance rates are good, in part, because of the trust immigrant communities have in the city’s officers. They know that St. Paul officers aren’t there to deport them.

St. Paul and Minneapolis have joined a lawsuit filed by sanctuary cities across the country objecting to the president’s executive order tying federal funds to cities’ participation in the administration’s immigration enforcement. For St. Paul, Carter said that order could affect about $260 million in federal funding expected this year.

And in a statement, a Minneapolis spokesperson called the order an “overreach.” “The City’s policy is clear: ‘the city does not operate its programs for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws.’ ”

Cities and states that understand the community-building value of immigrants must continue to welcome them and push back against efforts to demonize them. Local government attorneys should continue to mount unrelenting legal challenges. Good neighbors should do what they can to help those whose families are in danger of being torn apart. And businesses ought to speak up to defend the workers they need.