Calls for immigration reform in Washington, DC are loud again. We’ve seen it ebb and flow over the years.

It’s impossible to ignore the large number of people trying to come into the United States, whether at the U. S. border with Mexico in Texas and California, or refugees from Haiti and Cuba coming by boat to Florida.

New policies announced by the Biden Administration this year indicate the United States will allow up to 20,000 refugees from Latin American and Caribbean countries to settle in the country over the next two years.

It will also expand the parole process for immigrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba. As many as 30,000 people from these countries will be allowed into the United States if they have a sponsor and pass background checks.

They’ll be able to come here for two years with a work authorization.

 It’s been decades since congress adopted any significant immigration reform. We’ve seen lawmakers come close a few times, but still no changes.

We’ll talk about immigration and the problems at the southern border with U. S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who joins us.

“We are short workers,” Ernst said. “Our labor pool is not growing in Iowa …. It is a bipartisan issue.”

To hear what else Ernst has to say, click on the video.       

Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you.  It’s a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on what’s happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home.