Immigration was revitalizing small-town Minnesota, but Republicans didn’t care

Because of local employment opportunities, we began welcoming new immigrant families into our community.

Official response and confirmed impact

Suddenly, we were handing out candy at church again, seeing new young faces, baptizing babies and young adults, and hosting more community services.

What happened in our church mirrors what happened in Twin Valley. We lost members as people grew older, died, or left town for jobs.

But immigrant families filled some of those empty pews and helped keep the attendance numbers steady.

This success story is a local example of a national trend that Republicans don’t seem to recognize.

Small towns are taking the brunt of the stalling of U.S. population growth.

As with the general U.S. population, immigration provides a clear way to help support our elders by expanding the pool of working-class Americans in local communities.

In the last 30-40 years, our community, like so many other small towns, has continued to face the consequences of population decline.