Northeastern immigration advocates seek to relaunch ‘rapid response teams’
LINCOLN – It happened 18 years ago, but Steve Joel and Yolanda Nuncio said Saturday they distinctly remember gathering at the town’s meatpacking Drug-sniffing dogs, helicopters and immigration officers at the factory.
Two Grand Island officials — he was the school principal at the time, she was a state administrator — arrested more than 250 suspected undocumented workers.
Grand Isla Ambassador Yolanda Garcia (Chato “Francisco” Garcia)
People scrambled to escape.
School seating follows closely behind. Some businesses closed.
“It was horrific,” said Nuccio, a Grand Island resident who at the time ran the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’ mission for the central region of the state. “We were unprepared for an attack of this magnitude and the impact it would have on the community.”
Rapid response team
Nuccio said the 2006 enforcement action got advocates thinking about better ways communities should respond, especially when children are separated from their parents. For example, after a high-profile investigation in and around O’Neill, Nebraska, in 2018, during which 133 workers were detained, strategies were developed and rapid response teams began to take action.
But in recent years, Nuccio said, those efforts have been largely dormant.
Participants in a five-hour summit organized in Las Vegas, Nebraska, on Saturday agreed to work more closely to update plans and reenergize community teams to quickly respond to immigration-related crackdowns or crisis situations.
Marty Ramirez, co-founder of Las Voces, a Latino advocacy network, said they are being driven by expanded border security discussions and former President Donald Trump’s promise that if he gets elected in November If elected president, he would initiate the largest mass deportations in the United States.
Marty Ramirez of Lincoln, co-founder of Las Voces Nebraska. (Courtesy of Chato “Francisco” Garcia)
“There’s anxiety,” Ramirez said. “It’s like a hurricane. It’s coming. It’s coming. What do we do when it hits?
Dozens of people, including Nuncio and Joel, tuned into online meetings from communities across the state to discuss whether or how various groups and cities could prepare. The goal is to develop local and statewide protocols to respond to vandalism ranging from shootings to assaults, Lincoln’s Ramirez said.
Experts from the statewide American Civil Liberties Union and the Immigration Law Center spoke about ongoing efforts to educate Nebraskans about their rights.
Omaha and Lincoln public school administrators talked about their preparedness plans.
For example, Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Paul Gausman described two of the district’s sites that have been set up to provide shelter and other services to students during emergencies, including connecting children with their parents or guardians. Reunion.
Ruby Mendez Lopez of Appleseed, Nebraska, said her organization created a “basic” response flow chart for the community in the wake of O’Neill-focused immigration actions.
She told the group that at least two Nebraska towns — Crete and North Platte — have begun developing plans to identify contacts and procedures tailored to local needs.
“They want to be prepared,” she said.
Mendez-Lopez said the most difficult part of a rapid-response plan is getting buy-in from local government officials who can streamline the execution of such a plan.
Olga Guevera of Action Solidarity in South Sioux City said her community began discussing rapid response strategies shortly after O’Neill’s arrest, but then the COVID-19 outbreak hit in early 2020. ), related efforts were “put on hold.”
“I don’t think we’re ready yet. A lot of us feel the same way,” she said.
Steve Joel, former superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools and Grand Island Public Schools. (Courtesy of LPS)
Joel, who recently retired as the principal of Lincoln Public Schools, was the principal of Grand Island Public Schools at the time of the 2006 raid. Swift and Company are part of a nationwide federal investigation that has detained about 1,300 workers from six different factories accused of immigration and identity theft violations.
“As you can imagine, fear is permeating the entire city of Grand Island,” Joel told summit attendees.
Joel said educators are trying to stress to families that the district’s top priority is keeping children safe, and that children from immigrant families are returning to the classroom “slowly but surely.”
There is anxiety…like a hurricane. It’s coming. It’s coming. What do we do when it strikes?
—Marty Ramirez of Lincoln, retired psychologist and co-founder of Las Voces Nebraska
He said he witnessed other unexpected behavior. The first person to walk into his office with a donation to help families came from someone who had previously made clear his negative views on illegal immigration.
Joel said when he reacted with surprise, the man said: I’m a dad too.
Joel, now retired, described the impact of the December 12 raid as both the highlight and the low point of his career. He believes the overall response “strengthens community resistance to mass evictions”.
Guevara and others said they look forward to working with other agencies and regions on response strategies.
Ben Salazar, an Omaha native who helped coordinate the summit, said he expects to form a coalition to help the community develop a concrete action plan.
“Today is a big step,” he said.
Ramirez hopes government officials and more Latino advocacy groups will get involved. Religious representatives spoke during the summit and expressed continued support.
Ramirez said he expects an uphill battle from Nebraska’s congressional delegation and some state leaders.
He’s glad the summit helped point out a need.
“We have to keep working hard,” Ramirez said.
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