Words, perspectives shared in Prior Lake immigration forum

Prior Lake American

It’s a difficult conversation, but that’s the point.

Through the nonprofit National Issues Forum, moderators Rick Olson and Renita Fisher led a discussion on immigration at Prior Lake City Hall Tuesday.

“We really share an awful lot in our perspectives,” Olson said. “We disagree on some things.”

And in the small community room at City Hall, words and perspectives were certainly shared.

The goal of the National Issues Forum is to promote community dialogue on issues which typically divide people — including immigration.

“I’m glad we’re having this conversation,” Fisher said. “I know it’s not easy for us to have it, but I’m glad we are.”

The moderators used the techniques of the nonprofit Better Angels, which was launched in 2016 to unite “blue” and “red” Americans. The conversation is designed to find common ground on dividing issues.

“We met at Better Angels and wanted to bring a community dialogue here,” Fisher said.

About 14 residents attended, including Prior Lake City Council member Annette Thompson.

About 11 million unauthorized immigrants were in the United States in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center.

Topics of conversation included open borders, drug trafficking, employers’ roles, cheap products as a result of migrant labor, loss of the American dream and more.

“On a lot of issues, there’s a lot of misinformation,” Olson said.

While there was plenty of dissension, common ground can be found. For instance, most of the attendees agreed that employers should also be held responsible for hiring migrant workers and in many cases, abusing the workers.

“It takes courage to share your viewpoints,” Olson said. “Even if we have differences of opinion, I do encourage you to communicate with your legislators.”

A couple of times, the moderators brought audience members back to the forum ground rules — one person speaking at a time, no one or two individuals dominate, forum will focus on the perspectives, all perspectives will be considered, an atmosphere for dialogue and analysis is maintained, listen respectfully to each other and no cellphones.

“I’m just sick and tired of the dialogue in America today,” Olson said. “I felt if I didn’t do anything to try and bring people together, that I would be just as guilty as everyone else who was arguing.”

At the end, attendees were encouraged to say something they might have learned and put what common ground they could find.

“We can be in a room and talk about immigration and not get into a fist fight,” Fisher said.