More than 60 Northeast entities united front to update laws,
LINCOLN — More than 60 Nebraska organizations gathered at the state Capitol Wednesday to announce a unified resolve to help change state and federal policies that could open the door for more immigrants to work and settle as cornhusker workers.
Representatives include Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who said he would not have imagined two years ago that such broad support would be available for an immigration-related shift.
Touring the state and visiting people from rural to urban, from health care to hospitality, he said, changed that mindset.
Sloan said that while there are undoubtedly differences in political and cultural views, he finds common ground in concerns about the state’s economic future, instability for families and communities and a labor market with as many as 80,000 open jobs.
“Without immigration reform, without our communities successfully welcoming these individuals into their communities, we won’t see solutions to Nebraska’s workforce issues,” he said.
The group gathered atop the west steps of the Nebraska Legislature Building grew out of a smaller coalition formed two years ago by the Chamber of Commerce and leaders of Omaha Common Community, a thirty-year-old A religious network established previously to advocate social welfare and justice issues.
The coalition, now newly announced as the Nebraska Alliance for Thriving Communities, counts unions, hospitals, banks, cattlemen and pork producers among its supporters.
Overall, they seek to update immigration policies, including those they say have left longtime residents of Nebraska cities “in an immigration limbo.”
Immigration advocates gathered at the state Capitol for a news conference Wednesday. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
Speakers noted that there are approximately 2,500 foreign-born Dreamers in Nebraska on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and an estimated 2,000 are on Temporary Protected Status due to domestic civil wars, disasters, or other special circumstances.
While DACA and TPS recipients often have temporary work permits that must be renewed regularly, they lack permanent residence status. The organization wants to see a way to get them to stay.
Nebraska Appleseed, one of the group’s members, offered testimony from people like Cleofes Sarmiento of Wakefield, who attended preschool through high school in the small Nebraska town and then attended the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Ph.D.
Sarmiento said he realized as a child that he was different from other children. He has been in the country on TPS since he was 2 years old.
“I do have a constant fear that one day I will be asked to leave and go to a country that I don’t recognize and that I don’t consider home,” Sarmiento said in a video. He said he would be happy to see his research in person. influence.
The speaker line-up did not include members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation or state lawmakers qualified to push for policy and legal changes.
Darcy Tromanhauser, director of immigrant integration and civic engagement at Appleseed, said the key now is building broad support across different industries and political persuasions.
“That was huge,” Sloan said. “This now sets the stage for what we all advocate for together and individually.”
Troemanhauser and others said coalition members will begin meeting with congressional representatives and state elected officials to share goals and press for action.
Sloan said most of the supporters in attendance Wednesday had national affiliates who could offer support.
Other changes the group would like to see at the federal level include:
Increase the number of visas the government issues based on employment and U.S. family ties, especially in high-demand areas such as agriculture, manufacturing and hospitality. Spouses and working-age children of temporary visa holders are also allowed to hold U.S. jobs. Eliminate seasonal requirements for farm workers under the H-2A program. Improve immigration “infrastructure” such as immigration courts.
Currently, the average wait time for asylum hearings at the Omaha immigration court, which handles applications from Nebraska and Iowa, is the longest in the country at about 5.5 years, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). data.
Omaha court judges also have one of the highest asylum denial rates in the country. TRAC shows that between fiscal years 2018 and 2023, judges at the Omaha-based court denied asylum in 90% of cases, compared with a national average of 61%.
The group’s recommended reforms at the state level include:
Ensure all Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles employees receive annual training to avoid barriers caused by “complex and diverse immigration statuses.” Improve the transfer of foreign professional licenses. Invest in the “New Nebraska Center.” Pass a state law allowing TPS and DACA recipients to receive unemployment insurance. Nebraska is the only state to ban such visits. Reversing Nebraska’s position seeking to end health care services for DACA recipients. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers filed a lawsuit last month along with 14 other states to block the Biden administration from allowing DACA recipients to participate in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets.
At a more local level, the organization supports ways to engage immigrant families and make their integration smoother.
Examples include cities increasing their affordable housing stock, in part by ensuring tax increment financing tools are used to increase housing for low-income tenants.
Cities and local chambers of commerce should also help provide more affordable child care options. Lina Traslavina Stover of the Center for Workers Statewide said schools could add more English-as-a-second-language teachers.
Denise Bowyer of OTOC said the coalition’s efforts are based on hundreds of conversations with people across the state and will be premised on Congress passing the Immigration Reform and Control Act “meaningfully.” It has been nearly 40 years since immigration laws were completely reformed.
The 1986 legislation required, among other things, stronger employment verification, stronger border enforcement, and amnesty for about 3 million undocumented immigrants who met certain eligibility requirements.
Bowyer and others say that more and more baby boomers are retiring these days. Nebraska has one of the five lowest unemployment rates in the country and one of the five highest labor force participation rates.
“We’re always short of people — feed mills, trucks, maintenance crews. The biggest needs are not going away,” said Al Yunke, executive director of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association. “We need immigrants like the Dreamers and others we can find. Our farmers don’t understand why we’re turning people away at the border. … Can’t we find a legal way to do this?
A leader of the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association said the average age of cattlemen is about 57 years old.
“Everything is connected,” said Laura Field, executive vice president. “We need talent not only to work in industry but also to be involved in other aspects of community life.”
The alliance said Zoe Olson, executive director of the Nebraska Hospitality Association, represents the state’s largest collective employers.
“Restaurants and grocery stores are closing and reducing their hours, and they’re closing because no one is working,” Olson said. “That has a direct impact on the livability of towns. Without restaurants and social spaces, that changes.
Organizations that have signed up to this organization’s policy principles:
ACLU of Nebraska
aksaben foundation
Asian Community and Cultural Center
Associated General Contractors of Nebraska
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Conductors (BLET) 88 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Conductors (BLET)
Locals 88 and 388
Brown Immigration Act
Immigration and Refugee Development Center
Rural Affairs Center
Columbus Hispanic Center
north platte city
Curley’s Law
Center of the Americas
waterwater bank
North Platte Great Plains Health District
Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce
Hastings Multicultural Society
heartland workers center
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Go home instead
Omaha Community Church
International Association of Machinists Local Chapter 180
Sheet Metal, Airline, Rail and Transportation Workers International (SMART) Transportation Department (TD) Local 286
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1920
Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce
Voice of Lars
Latino Economic Development Council
Lincoln Chamber of Commerce
Lutheran Family Services
Mercy and Justice Team, Great Plains Conference, United Methodist Church
Midwest Maintenance
central labor council of west central nebraska
Mothers and Others, Justice and Mercy for Immigrants
Nebraska Appleseed
nebraska cattle rancher
Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Nebraska Clergy Action Network
Nebraska Corn Growers Association
Nebraska Farmers Union
Nebraska Healthcare Association
Nebraska Hospital Association
Nebraska Hotel Association
Nebraska Independent Community Banker
Nebraska Pork Producers Association
Nebraska Soybean Association
Nebraska AFL-CIO
Nebraska Dairy Association
Nebraska Education Association
nebraska peacemakers
North Platte Area Chamber of Commerce and Development
Omaha Federation of Labor
Omaha One Community
RabFak College of Construction and Workers
Sheet metal air-rail combined transport 200
Schlegel Center for Service and Justice
Local Truck Driver 554
United Food and Commercial Workers 222
TPS Alliance
Solidarity in Action (South Sioux City)
city monastery
Nebraska Children’s Voice
