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Holcomb pens op-ed urging Congress to allow states to sponsor immigrants

Indiana Republican Governor Eric Holcomb stands at the rostrum in the Indiana House chamber. Holcomb is a white man with gray and white hair and beard, wearing a suit.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
In a Washington Post editorial, Gov. Eric Holcomb said immigrants are necessary to help fill Indiana's many job openings.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and fellow Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah are calling on Congress to find a breakthrough on immigration reform.

In a Washington Post editorial, Holcomb cited the number of open jobs in Indiana – about 220,000, more than six percent of all jobs in the Hoosier State. And he said immigrants are necessary to help fill all those positions.

Holcomb and Cox said they support allowing states to sponsor immigrants, welcoming people into the state to help fill specific needs in the job market.

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The two Republicans, often considered among the more moderate in their party, chided both extremes of the political spectrum. They said one wants too liberal a border policy while the other ignores the value of immigrants to the community.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.