By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County Chamber of Commerce held a forum Thursday morning to discuss the need for immigration reform and the impact it would have on business.

Chamber President Charlie Moore said significant issues regarding immigration law are prohibiting employers from retaining workers.

“Especially in McLean County, where agriculture is our number one industry. If you have folks that are working on a farm and they aren’t able to stay, that doesn’t allow those farmers to retain,” said Moore. “Especially in their interim, so whether they’re seasonal employees, to be able to stay.”

There’s also the loss of foreign students who go to college at schools such as Illinois State University or Illinois Wesleyan University.

“We’ve trained them. We’ve, hopefully, integrated them into the community while they were here. Encouraged them to participate in internships or relationships with businesses in the community and then they leave,” said Moore. “So from an employer choice perspective, they lose that opportunity to hire or retain that talent.”

Representatives from the Illinois Farm Bureau, faith leaders with Bibles, Badges, and Businesses and State Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) were among those participating in the forum. Brady said he was there to listen to what recommendations the group could give him as a legislator to help improve immigration laws.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].