Immigration reform has been put on the back burner for the past year or so. It has been eclipsed by debates over health care reform and job creation. But for many rural farming communities, at least in the West, it’s an issue that continues to burn.
Out in Eastern Colorado, the tiny town of Yuma has recently weighed in on the immigration debate. The town council passed a unanimous resolution calling on the U.S. Congress and the president to “solve our ineffective immigration system.”
For generations the town has relied on immigrant labor, which used to be seasonal. But in the past decade those jobs have become permanent, thanks to the area’s expanding hog farms and feedlots. Today at least a quarter of Yuma’s population is Hispanic, more if you factor in illegal immigrants.
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