Nebraskans assess Senate’s immigration reform
Hopes and fears bubbled to the surface in Nebraska on Thursday as those with a stake in immigration law watched the U.S. Senate pass its version of sweeping reform.
Oscar Rios, president of the board of directors at the Lincoln Hispanic Center, attached most of his hopes to provisions that would allow undocumented workers to remain in the United States and even become citizens.
“I know that is what we are looking for,” Rios said. “Although it may seem idealistic to some, this would give us undocumented workers — and I include myself, because I once was an undocumented worker — it would give us the tools in order to succeed in life.
“So, no question about it, this bill, for the immigrant individual, is the dream we were hoping for.”
Milo Mumgaard of Lincoln’s Appleseed Center and Lourdes Gouveia, director of Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, also praised that part of Senate action.
Mumgaard, executive director of the nonprofit foundation that advocates for immigrant rights, cited “a rational approach that most Nebraskans want to the immigration issue, rather than this short term, quick fix, restrictionist, build a fence crowd.”
Gouveia, also a sociology professor at UNO, alluded to “the reasonable and more enlightened voices, especially of people like Sen. Hagel, from the Midwest” as a force for change.
But she also was quick to acknowledge a far worse possible outcome ahead of the November election involving the Senate failing to find middle ground with more conservative House members focused exclusively on securing the southern border.
“My fear is that, in an effort to salvage the part of the bill that we think is very important — creating a legal path for working and residing in the U.S. — that we will include so many enforcement provisions and undermine civil rights and human rights and worker rights at the end.”
One inescapable conclusion, from her perspective, about action by federal lawmakers: “It will say a lot for American civic culture. It will mean a lot for the development of American civic culture, which way this policy ends up reading.”
Two other Nebraskans with their eyes on immigration legislation Thursday found little to their liking in the Senate stance.
Lincoln resident Stan Sipple, state coordinator of a recently formed group called Nebraskans Fed Up with Illegal Immigration, and Omaha resident Dennis Murphy, who’s recruiting Minuteman members in the state, spoke critically of the same goals that Gouveia, Mumgaard and Rios support.
Minuteman chapters already in place in states along the Mexican border want the flow of illegal immigration stopped, and Murphy underscored the importance of that mission again Thursday.
“We need to emphasize and focus on border protection exclusively,” he said. “Until that’s under control, then and only then should we address those other issues.”
Sipple called it “unnecessary and unsatisfactory to dramatically increase immigration” by allowing those here illegally to remain, “when the idea is to kind of bring it under control.”
Despite the personal experience Rios and many other Nebraska residents have had with the immigration laws the Senate is trying to change, the end result could easily be stalemate.
“I do not want to be in their shoes,” he said. “It’s going to be contentious. There will be a lot of reaction, a lot of animosity.”
But no matter how loudly some might complain about Hagel’s role in Thursday’s results, Gouveia thinks he speaks for most Nebraskans.
“I come down on the side that, like many Midwestern states, Nebraska has a more receptive, more open attitude toward immigrants,” she said.
It embraces its immigrant past and, so far, “It has avoided some of the more insidious racial and ethnic battles that have characterized states in the south or even some border states.”
It is also a state, she said, that “no question, no ambiguity, needs immigrant workers.”
Reach Art Hovey at (402) 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.
Oscar Rios, president of the board of directors at the Lincoln Hispanic Center, attached most of his hopes to provisions that would allow undocumented workers to remain in the United States and even become citizens.
“I know that is what we are looking for,” Rios said. “Although it may seem idealistic to some, this would give us undocumented workers — and I include myself, because I once was an undocumented worker — it would give us the tools in order to succeed in life.
“So, no question about it, this bill, for the immigrant individual, is the dream we were hoping for.”
Milo Mumgaard of Lincoln’s Appleseed Center and Lourdes Gouveia, director of Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, also praised that part of Senate action.
Mumgaard, executive director of the nonprofit foundation that advocates for immigrant rights, cited “a rational approach that most Nebraskans want to the immigration issue, rather than this short term, quick fix, restrictionist, build a fence crowd.”
Gouveia, also a sociology professor at UNO, alluded to “the reasonable and more enlightened voices, especially of people like Sen. Hagel, from the Midwest” as a force for change.
But she also was quick to acknowledge a far worse possible outcome ahead of the November election involving the Senate failing to find middle ground with more conservative House members focused exclusively on securing the southern border.
“My fear is that, in an effort to salvage the part of the bill that we think is very important — creating a legal path for working and residing in the U.S. — that we will include so many enforcement provisions and undermine civil rights and human rights and worker rights at the end.”
One inescapable conclusion, from her perspective, about action by federal lawmakers: “It will say a lot for American civic culture. It will mean a lot for the development of American civic culture, which way this policy ends up reading.”
Two other Nebraskans with their eyes on immigration legislation Thursday found little to their liking in the Senate stance.
Lincoln resident Stan Sipple, state coordinator of a recently formed group called Nebraskans Fed Up with Illegal Immigration, and Omaha resident Dennis Murphy, who’s recruiting Minuteman members in the state, spoke critically of the same goals that Gouveia, Mumgaard and Rios support.
Minuteman chapters already in place in states along the Mexican border want the flow of illegal immigration stopped, and Murphy underscored the importance of that mission again Thursday.
“We need to emphasize and focus on border protection exclusively,” he said. “Until that’s under control, then and only then should we address those other issues.”
Sipple called it “unnecessary and unsatisfactory to dramatically increase immigration” by allowing those here illegally to remain, “when the idea is to kind of bring it under control.”
Despite the personal experience Rios and many other Nebraska residents have had with the immigration laws the Senate is trying to change, the end result could easily be stalemate.
“I do not want to be in their shoes,” he said. “It’s going to be contentious. There will be a lot of reaction, a lot of animosity.”
But no matter how loudly some might complain about Hagel’s role in Thursday’s results, Gouveia thinks he speaks for most Nebraskans.
“I come down on the side that, like many Midwestern states, Nebraska has a more receptive, more open attitude toward immigrants,” she said.
It embraces its immigrant past and, so far, “It has avoided some of the more insidious racial and ethnic battles that have characterized states in the south or even some border states.”
It is also a state, she said, that “no question, no ambiguity, needs immigrant workers.”
Reach Art Hovey at (402) 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.
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