Does immigration really matter to the Tri-Cities? Columbia Badger Club finds out

All of us, with the exception of Native-Americans, are immigrants or come from families of immigrants. This month’s Columbia Basin Badger Club online forum at noon July 15 will examine how immigrants benefit our community culturally and economically, and the difficulties in passing immigration reform.

The importance of immigrants is evident in data from the 2020 Census provided by Patrick Jones, executive director of the Institute of Public Policy & Economic Analysis at Eastern Washington University and editor of the Benton-Franklin Trends newsletter.

That census counted 296,480 people in Benton and Franklin counties, with Franklin County being the fastest-growing county in the state and Benton County the third-fastest growing. Hispanics represented 32.4percent of the population in the two counties. African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans totaled another 4 percent, and those who identified as multiracial were 3.2 percent.

Of those, 32,045 were not U.S. citizens in 2019, an increase of 65 percent since 2005. Another 14,113 were naturalized citizens, an increase of 61 percent. Almost 30 percent of Tri-City family units do not speak English at home.

Our forum speakers have very different backgrounds and experiences.

Congressman Dan Newhouse is a lifelong resident of Central Washington and a third-generation Yakima Valley farmer. He previously served four terms in the state Legislature, and was director of the State Department of Agriculture from 2009-13. Newhouse played a key role in passing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, the first meaningful agriculture labor reform bill to pass the House since 1986. It awaits Senate consideration.

He will discuss this legislation and how difficult it is to pass immigration reform legislation, particularly in his own Republican conference and Senate caucus.

Pasco attorney Eamonn P.S. Roach will discuss the need for qualified foreign workers in research and technology. At the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for example, almost 26 percent of its nearly 5,000 employees are minorities or people of color, including many immigrants.

Roach graduated in 2007 from Seattle University majoring in International Studies & Politics and a minor in Spanish, then lived in China to learn Mandarin. He is a graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law and a partner with his father, Tom Roach, at Roach & Bishop Law Offices, where he works on immigration-related cases.

Our third speaker, Ivone Guillen, brings another important perspective as the Immigration Outreach Manager for the Broetje Family Trust, which operates thousands of acres of orchards.

A first-generation Latina immigrant, she was raised in Washington and graduated from Gonzaga University. Prior to joining the Broetje Family Trust, she lived in Washington, D.C., for 10 years, working in the movement for social change that embraces, protects and equips vulnerable and underserved U.S. communities.

You can register for this event at columbiabasinbadgers.com to receive a confirmation and link to join the forum. Cost is $5 for nonmembers, while club members can attend for free.