Activists blast Nebraska governor’s immigration bill as bigoted

Hispanic activists blasted Gov. Dave Heineman for a measure that targets illegal immigrants, saying it is bigoted and panders to conservative right-wing residents by addressing something that isn’t really a problem. “This is out and out bigotry,” Ben Salazar, publisher of Nuestro Mundo Newspaper in Omaha, said at a Capitol news conference. “We will not stand idly by and allow this to happen.”  The barbs hurled Monday are a prelude to what is expected to be a heated debate among lawmakers. 

Under the bill (LB963) Heineman is touting, state agencies would have to verify that any residents applying for state benefits are in the United States legally.  It would also prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining state or local retirement, welfare, health, disability, public housing, post-secondary education, food assistance or unemployment benefits.  Illegal immigrants already are forbidden under a 1996 federal law from receiving most state benefits.  But Attorney General Jon Bruning has said some state agencies are better than others at verifying the status of benefit applicants.  Also angering some Hispanics is a piece of the bill that will force lawmakers to revisit the issue of in-state tuition two years after lawmakers tackled it.

It would repeal a law passed in 2006 that allows illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition at the University of Nebraska and state college campuses.  The 2006 measure, which became law after the Legislature overrode a Heineman veto, is aimed at the children of illegal immigrants brought to Nebraska by their families.  In regards to the entire bill attacked Monday, the governor has said the measure is an illustration of how federal inaction on the immigration issue has forced states to act.