Legislators hold public forum to get input on immigration

To aid in the drafting of legislation regarding immigration reform, state representatives held a public forum in Cape Girardeau Thursday to hear public opinion.

"There is a concern ... about whether our government is to serve legal residents or illegal residents," state Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, said.

The hearing, held at the Show-Me Center, featured representatives from the Special Committee on Immigration Reform, including state Rep. Nathan D. Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau.

Seven such forums were held in every region of the state in order to learn what the public has to say about immigration reform in order to draft legislation, Cooper said.

"It's important to hear how it affects the people in our area, and I believe this hearing was able to focus in on many of the issues of which need to be addressed," he said.

A handful of people attended the forum, which lasted around two hours, and about four people gave testimony to the panel.

State Rep. Peter Meyers, R-Sikeston, gave testimony on the importance of migrant workers to some of his constituents.

One farmer he knows employs between 20 and 30 migrate workers for crop work, some of whom get paid upward of $14 an hour. The legislator said his constituents would not be able to function without the use of migrate workers.

Bruce Hillis, a representative of Missouri First, an advocacy group for the constitutional governance in the state, said it was important when talking about immigration to look at economic freedom.

According to Hillis, economic freedom concerns such things as property rights and the absence of government corruption.

"Migration and the attempt of it is not going to subside until there's a balance between the economic freedom with Mexico and the U.S.," he said.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

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