Immigration

On April 11 & 12, 2008 the Whiteside Forum will host a conference on the hot-button issue of "immigration." The event will be held in the community room of the Odell Public Library here in Morrison, IL and is free and open to the public. This will be your chance to hear both sides of the current debate which has split our country and to ask the experts some questions. Is a compromise possible? What are the affects of immigration and immigration policy (or the lack thereof) on me?

Friday night April 11 following registration at 7:00 PM our keynote speaker will be Sylvia Puente, director of the Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives, at the University of Notre Dame, Institute for Latino Studies. A 45 minute question and answer period will follow her presentation.

On Saturday morning April 12 following registration at 8:30 AM a panel discussion will be moderated by Herb Trix, news director and Afternoon News anchor at local public radio station WVIK. Short presentations will be made by Willem Schiff, Consul General of the Netherlands in Chicago; Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Dave Gorak, executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration; and Karla Steele, attorney and member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. A 90 minute question and answer period will follow the presentations.

I have a particular interest in the topic as I spent 90% of my working life as a legal alien, i.e. working in another person's country in the offshore oil business. Was I and most of the other members of the multi-national crew taking jobs away from the natives? Did we get along even when we often could not speak each others or the local language? Did my Pakistani boss consider me an infidel? Do native Americans consider all of us illegal aliens?

Since 9/11 there have been many concerns about our borders and security. Can they be secured? Is there a conflict between human rights and citizen rights? What makes us "American"? What are the affects of globalization where jobs, money and goods can cross borders easily, but labor cannot?

Please come and join the discussion. Ask your questions secure in a climate respectful of your own and the expert's opinion. We probably won't find all the answers, but rest assured the answers will not go unquestioned.

(by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist)