Weekend Reading: Highlights from this week’s immigration news (February 29 – March 4)
Date: March 4, 2016
This video from CNN illustrates the hiring challenges American dairy farmers face on their farms and the vital role that migrant workers play in filling job vacancies. “I cannot get local workers to do the jobs that these guys are doing, and every other dairy farmer will say the same thing,” one farmer laments. Today, foreign-born workers account for 41 percent of the dairy farm workforce, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.
Former congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart’s letter to the editor (Miami Herald) voices support for legislative efforts moving in Florida—including an awarded seal of biliteracy for graduating, multilingual high school students—that would give immigrants more opportunities to contribute to the state’s economy, offsetting the adverse effects of Florida’s aging population. “I believe we should embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and energy of new Americans and give them the opportunity to contribute fully to our state’s future growth and prosperity,” Diaz-Balart writes.
A state seal of biliteracy is also moving forward in Arizona’s legislature. After passing in the Arizona State Senate by a unanimous vote of 29-0, the bill heads to the House of Representatives. To date, fifteen states, as well as Washington DC, have adopted the seal recognizing multilingual students.
In case you missed it:
Didn’t have a chance to catch the 11th GOP debate last night? Find out what the candidates said through FWD.us’s presidential candidate tracker. And learn more about the ways in which immigrants are impacting Michigan’s economy here.
