Immigration as a solution for an aging county

As the proportion of elderly people inexorably rises in Todd County -- one of out six are over 65 today; one out of four will be by 2035 -- something else has happened.

The county's population of Latinos also has risen, to nearly 5 percent of the total, more than 1,000 people. And half of them are under 20 years old.

Reporter Jennifer Vogel explores what can happen as a result in the third part of the MPR News series on Todd County and the future. You can find it on our Todd County page or in this week's editions of the Clarissa Independent News Herald, the Browerville Blade, the Staples World and the Long Prairie Leader.

There are at least five Long Prairie businesses operated by immigrants, and Latino enrollment is shoring up school employment. Young Latinos who express the hope they can stay in the area to be with family are training for in-demand health care jobs.

Few doubt the presence of some illegal immigrants. And as the immigration debate heats up again from Arizona to Washington, D.C., you don't have to look past Central Avenue in Long Prairie to join the same debate.

But if you just examine the numbers in Todd County, it looks like somebody threw residents a potential lifeline.

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