Local immigration leader meets with White House amid surge at southern border

 

FRANKLIN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A local advocate for immigration reform said he met earlier this month with members of the Biden administration amid the ongoing surge of migrant traffic at the southern border.

Darryl Morin, the national president of Forward Latino, said in an interview Wednesday he wanted to frame the situation as one about border security as well as a possible opportunity to address the nation's workforce issues.

The conversation around immigration has stalled in Congress while White House officials visited Mexico Wednesday in hopes the United States' southern neighbor would do more to stem illegal crossings.

Northern cities have felt the effects as Texas has sent migrants on planes and buses to New York City and Chicago, which have struggled to house the migrants.

Morin said he was not aware of any migrants being diverted to Wisconsin, but he added local service providers would not be caught off-guard if that were to change.

"We have been working with a number of other nonprofits, as well as local, county and state agencies," Morin said. "To make sure we're prepared here should we receive a busload or planeload of immigrants here."

Morin said if migrants do start arriving in Wisconsin, the top priorities would be ensuring there is adequate short-term housing, medical care and schooling.

Morin added he wanted the surge to reignite talks in Congress about updating the nation's immigration laws. Specifically, he pushed for short-term work permits to be more easily obtained while putting 'Dreamers' -- those who arrived illegally as children but lived most of their lives in the U.S. -- on a path to citizenship.

He pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce the outlined the worker shortage from one state to another. According to the chamber's analysis of federal labor data, Wisconsin currently has 54 available workers for every 100 open jobs.

"If we're to continue to grow and prosper, we need that immigrant labor to come in," Morin said. "So, we need legal vehicles by which they're able to do so."

Conservative lawmakers, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), have said immigration reform until there's better security at the border.

In a press call last week, Johnson pointed to the sharp increase in border encounters. Monthly data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection has shown three of the four highest-traffic months dating back to 2021 were recorded in September, October and November with no sign of relief this month.

"We can't turn our attention to the legal flow," Johnson said. "It's overwhelming."

Johnson added he was concerned local governments wouldn't be able to keep up with an increase in traffic, citing concerns some of the migrants would be involved in human and drug trafficking.

"It's not overwhelming Customs and Border Patrol, but it's overwhelming the capacity of cities, both large and small," Johnson said. "To cope with the flow of illegal immigrants."

Johnson accused the Biden administration of having an "open borders" approach to immigration that encouraged migrants to make the trek to the U.S.

Morin said those assertions were "disingenuous and rather counterproductive," instead suggesting the surge was due to a belief migrants could find jobs more easily given the nation's workforce situation and increasingly repressive situations in Cuba and Venezuela.

Addressing the border situation will be a top issue for Congress when members return to Washington in the new year.

While the Biden administration wants to tie increased border funding to additional aid for Ukraine, Johnson and some other Republicans want to take those up separately.

Johnson told reporters last week the Ukraine issue gave Republicans "leverage" to get concessions on border security. Morin said he also would prefer if Ukraine aid and border funding were addressed on their own.

"Whenever you link things like that, it becomes overly politicized," Morin said.