immigration
Divided over immigration, U.S. Senate blocks advancing aid for Ukraine, Israel
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate failed to move forward Wednesday with a $111 billion spending package that would have bolstered aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the Southern border amid deep disagreement about immigration policy. The 49-51 procedural vote, which needed at least 60 senators to advance the bill toward final passage, represents a significant […]
House moves to bar use of public lands for housing migrants; SD’s Johnson votes yes
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Thursday passed a bill to bar the use of public lands for temporary housing for migrants applying for asylum. The bill, H.R. 5283, passed with a majority of Republicans in support (including South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson), 224-203. It’s dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats hold a […]
Details scant on Guard’s border deployment as Noem visits troops
Gov. Kristi Noem confirmed Tuesday that 50 South Dakota National Guard soldiers are on a previously announced deployment to the nation’s southern border, but she didn’t say what unit they’re from, how long they’ll be there, what it’ll cost, or exactly what they’re doing. South Dakota Searchlight sent messages about those and other aspects of […]
Bridge generation: Children of southeast Asian refugees carve out niche in Huron
HURON — Until age 6, Kler Hae roamed the highlands of southern Thailand after school with his friends, hunting birds with slingshots and stones. If they got lucky, they’d bring home dinner. Now he’s a real estate agent in Huron, an eastern South Dakota town of about 14,000. At age 12, Pywe Der moved to […]
Desperation and renewal: How Huron embraced new Americans and thrived
That Huron came to be a major hub of Karen culture in the Midwest was at least partially a side effect of desperation. What began as desperation for workers morphed into desperation for a school system struggling to manage its migrant population and the community’s response to it. Today, about a decade after the dust settled […]
At the border, politicians play while migrants pay
Sister Teresa Ann Wolf from the Mother of God Monastery in Watertown recently comforted a young, pregnant Guatemalan woman who collapsed in pain after crossing the Rio Grande River, her baby breached and both lives in peril. Gov. Kristi Noem recently flew to the Texas border, where she joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and a […]
Noem says National Guard deployment to southern border will begin next month
Gov. Kristi Noem said during a press conference Monday that a previously announced South Dakota National Guard deployment to the border will begin Sept. 1. Noem made the comments during a livestreamed appearance at the border with fellow Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jim Pillen of Nebraska and Kevin Stitt […]
Public schools banned from sheltering migrants under bill passed by U.S. House
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday night passed a bill to bar the use of public K-12 school facilities to provide shelter for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The bill, approved 222-201 with a yes vote from Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, is known as the “Schools Not Shelters Act” and is a rebuke […]
U.S. House Republicans spar with HHS secretary over transgender youth, child labor
WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday defended access to health care for transgender people, as well as his agency’s actions in connection with unaccompanied migrant children. Republicans at a U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing grilled Becerra about gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including puberty […]
Lack of action on immigration is ‘holding SD back,’ dairy farmers say
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story on dairy farmers is the second of two examining the challenges some South Dakota businesses face as they attempt to hire international workers. The first story examined problems in the tourism industry. — The Department of Homeland Security wanted to do a routine work authorization audit of the Turner County Dairy […]
Volatile, costly international visa program strains SD’s tourism industry
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of two stories examining the challenges some South Dakota businesses face as they attempt to hire international workers. The second story examines challenges in the agricultural industry. — Janet Boyer estimates she spent over $40,000 arranging housing for international workers and transporting them to the Black Hills before she […]
Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment
Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality. Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National […]