Nebraska Unicameral Speaker: It Was A Good Session

The 2008 Nebraska legislative session was successful, said Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk. Funding for state roads was a contentious item, due to record high gasoline prices. The Unicameral transfered $14.5 million from the general fund for road projects. Those dollars will be matched by approximately $75 million in federal funds.

Sen. Flood said: “It’s a tough time for people, we recognize that. We didn’t want to make it any worse than we had to. At the same time, we maintained quality infrastructure across the state.” Flood added: “I think that the method of execution will be an issue next session.” The Unicameral will reconvene next January.

Nebraska warns of fake licenses being sold to illegal immigrants

State officials in Nebraska were warning Monday of a scheme to sell fake driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, under the promise that the documents will let people legally drive, buy and sell cars. A Houston-based company has taken out ads in newspapers and distributed fliers to Hispanic businesses in Omaha, Grand Island and Lincoln, offering so-called international licenses and state ID cards for about $200.

“We see these so-called ‘fantasy documents’ or … ‘novelty documents’ fairly frequently,” said Tim Counts, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. “It’s unfortunate, but I think (it is) another example of the pitfalls that await those that enter the country illegally.” While the claims can be deceptive, Counts said, it was unclear whether businesses that sold them were in violation of federal laws.

ICE agents arrest 25 illegal immigrants in 2-day operation in Nebraska

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official says agents have arrested 25 illegal immigrants in a two-day operation along the Interstate 80 corridor. Of those arrested on Wednesday and Thursday, 19 are considered fugitives, meaning they had defied a judge’s final order to leave the country and were targeted in the operation.

ICE spokesman Tim Counts says the other six are illegal immigrants who will appear before an immigration judge. Counts says the arrests were made in homes, at businesses and other places. Of those arrested, 15 are from Guatemala, eight are from Mexico, one is from El Salvador and one is from Iran. Five of those arrested had criminal convictions other than immigration violations.

Penalties for hiring illegal immigrants advance in Legislature

A bill that would deny tax incentives to Nebraska businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants has been sent out to the full Legislature. The 5-2 vote from the Revenue Committee came on the same day another committee officially reported its decision to kill Gov.

Dave Heineman’s proposal that would have required all state and local government agencies to verify non-citizen’s legal authority to be in the United States before granting them government benefits such as unemployment, welfare or resident tuition rates at Nebraska colleges. The Revenue Committee vote on LB784, however, appeared to be mostly symbolic.

The measure, introduced by State Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha, has not been given priority status. With the legislative session more than half complete, Howard said she doubted any action could be taken on the measure before the Legislature’s scheduled April 17 adjournment.

Nebraska employers of illegal immigrants targeted

At a legislative hearing in Lincoln last week, several Nebraskans testified in favor of a bill to prevent companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants from receiving incentives from the state. Companies applying for business tax incentives under the Nebraska Advantage Act would have to certify that they had not knowingly violated immigration law by employing undocumented immigrants for five years before the application.

If they later were found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants, the companies would lose all tax benefits and would have to repay any benefits they had received.

The bill (LB784) from state Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha was considered by the Revenue Committee the same day as a proposal (LB895) from Gov. Dave Heineman to expand tax incentives to businesses that create high-paying jobs. “The solution must be shared by employers,” Howard said. Howard said she was not aware of any businesses receiving tax benefits that had hired illegal immigrants.

Nebraska packing plant employee arrested during raid gets prison sentence

A Columbus woman arrested during the December 2006 raid at a Grand Island meatpacking plant has been sentenced to more than a year in prison.  On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf sentenced 43-year-old Otilia Ortiz-Caheque to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of probation, for misuse of an identification document. 

The U.S Attorney’s Office said Ortiz-Caheque used someone else’s name and Social Security number to get a job at Swift & Co. in July 2005.  She was arrested during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the Grand Island plant that coincided with raids at five other Swift plants.  ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested 1,297 workers at the plants.

Nebraska employers could be sued for cost of illegal immigrants

Hiring illegal immigrants could put businesses on the hook for costs ranging from education to welfare, under a bill introduced in the Legislature. The bill (LG1170) brought Wednesday by Sen. Tom White of Omaha would provide for the recovery of costs for public education, health care and public assistance programs used by illegal immigrants and their families, spouses or other dependents. The measure applies to those who “knowingly or recklessly recruited or employed illegal immigrants.” Action could be brought by the attorney general, a political subdivision or a citizen.

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.

Law would bar employers who hire illegals from receiving tax breaks

Nebraska employers who violate immigration laws wouldn’t be able to take advantage of a state business incentive package, under a bill in the Legislature.  Employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants couldn’t receive benefits under the Nebraska Advantage Act for five years.  Senator Gwen Howard of Omaha introduced the measure (LB784) Wednesday.  If employers with violations applied for the tax breaks anyway and were approved, they could be forced to repay the money they saved.  The bill was one of about 90 that were introduced Wednesday, the opening day of the Legislature’s 2008 session.  Lawmakers have more than 300 bills left over from 2007, while officials predict that a total of up to 400 more might be introduced this year. Legislative debate is scheduled to begin next week.

Nebraska bill targets hiring of illegal immigrants

Saying illegal immigrants come to Nebraska for jobs, State Sen. Gwen Howard introduced a bill Wednesday that would deny Nebraska business tax incentives to companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.  Howard said that she has been considering the bill for months and that it is not intended as a counterpoint to Gov. Dave Heineman’s call to crack down on illegal immigration by tightening the verification process to deny state benefits to anyone who isn’t a legal U.S. resident. 

Nebraska may be one of the first states to try to tie a prohibition on hiring illegal immigrants to its economic development incentives, said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., information clearinghouse on economic development practices.  This isn’t the first time Nebraska lawmakers have seen a proposal that would link incentives and immigration.  In 2003, while considering an update of the state’s business tax incentive program, Nebraska lawmakers considered a provision that would have denied tax incentives to companies that habitually violated labor, immigration or environmental laws. 

That proposal proved to be a sticking point, however, and the legislation failed.  The state’s main tax incentive law wasn’t updated until 2005, when the Nebraska Advantage Act was passed without the provision.  Ron Sedlacek, legal counsel for the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Howard’s bill appears to be an improvement over the 2003 proposal, although he said it might have unintended consequences. 

The 2003 proposal did not require a “knowing” violation, Sedlacek said, leaving employers vulnerable to sanctions if they unwittingly hired someone who gave them false documents.  In addition, federal anti-discrimination law restricts the amount of questioning employers can do of a job applicants’ documents, and businesses still lack a reliable means to verify an applicant’s identification papers, Sedlacek said.  The governor’s spokesperson, Jen Rae Hein, said Howard’s bill raises some of the same questions Heineman discussed in unveiling his proposal last week. “The governor is in favor of sanctioning employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but this issue needs to be addressed at the federal level,” Hein said.