By Guest Opinion,
More than 30 groups in Eugene and Springfield are forming a group to reach out to immigrants, particularly Latino immigrants according to the Register Guard. The new group, called the Lane County Network for Immigrant Integration (LCNII), held a news conference April 30 at City Hall in Springfield. There, they released a statement of principles outlining the impact they hope to have on the community. The principles want the contributions of immigrants to Lane County to be more publicly recognized. Farther down the road, the group also anticipates supporting specific immigration law reforms. However, at this time it does not have specific policy proposals that it endorses.
The first policy the group will pursue is deeper integration of immigrants with the existing population. One encouraging sign: Latino residents already spend about $3.1 billion annually in Oregon.
One policy goal that the LCNII will probably endorse is tuition equality, whereby illegal immigrants, or at least those who were brought across the border illegally as children, will be allowed to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities. Current Oregon law mandates that all illegals, even those brought here as children, must pay out-of-state tuition rates.
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