State Proposals towards Legal Immigrants a Step in the Right Direction

Bruce P. Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu Governor Pawlenty announced certain proposals to encourage legal immigration in Minnesota. Proposals included a mix of policies aimed at encouraging legal immigration in Minnesota both at the high tech level as well as the low income level. These policies included tax credits for citizenship classes, financial literacy programs and proposals to attract high skilled immigrants. These are concrete proposals that send a good message to the world that Minnesota welcomes immigrants. I hope the Governor will continue to encourage Minnesotans to view immigrants as a source of dynamic capital that will help the state become competitive in our global economy. I also hope that he will announce shortly similar comprehensive proposals focusing on the undocumented workers in Minnesota.