December 30, 1996 - If you're a legal alien in this country and you commit a crime, chances are greater than ever before you'll be deported. Tough new immigration laws passed by congress this year have expanded the category of crimes for which resident aliens can be deported, and have severely limited a judge's ability to grant any relief. The impact of the new laws is already being felt in Minnesota, and legal advocates are concerned the changes may do more harm than good in the long run.
January 22, 1997 - MPR's Lorna Benson reports that founders of a new Center for Cross-Cultural Health are hoping to minimize medical anxieties by better preparing Minnesota health care workers trying to deal with a cultural curveball.
January 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil looks at turnover issues at meatpacking plants in Minnesota. The average worker in the meatpacking industry only stays on the job for a few months. The job is so difficult, dangerous and some might argue downright nasty that many plants hire the equivalent of a new work force each year. That creates problems for towns which host a meatpacking factory, with school enrollments changing constantly and short term housing stretched to the limit.
March 24, 1997 - MPR’s Karen Louise Boothe reports that hundreds of people rallied at the State Capitol on behalf of a bill that would restore the cuts in benefits to legal immigrants in the new federal welfare reform law.
June 30, 1997 - Minnesota's population of people from Somalia is small but growing fast. The number has more than doubled in the past two years to about 8000. The attraction is the state's booming economy. But unlike some other economic migrants many of the Somali's arrive as refugees with no money and little English. What they find is a climate and culture vastly different from their homeland.
August 7, 1997 - Midday rebroadcasts a Minnesota Public Radio documentary produced by MPR’s Mark Heistad. The Strike is On! is an oral history of the early labor movement in Minnesota, with emphasis on the struggle to organize Iron Range workers, Austin’s Hormel strike, the Minneapolis truckers strike of 1934, and more.
October 21, 1997 - Midday discusses new federal guidelines affecting immigrants with guests Jennifer Prestholdt, director of Refugee and Immigrant Program at Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights; and Loan Huynh, legal and advocacy director at Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.
February 9, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on Next Innovations, a Minneapolis organization that trains young non-profit employees business and leadership skills….and possibly the next generation of non-profit managers.
March 12, 1998 - Huge images of young immigrants will dominate the atrium of the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis for two days. They are part of a video installation by artist Laurie Phillips who says she wants to give visibility to the powerless and allow them to tell some of their own stories.
May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on the testing challenges of public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul see more immigrants and refugees each year…with few speaking English. That makes passing exams, including the 8th grade basic skills tests in reading and math, extremely difficult. The state provides money to educate these students, but in many cases the immigration is outpacing the funding.