Nebraska bill would target benefits for illegal immigrants
Dave Heineman is targeting illegal immigrants in a proposal requiring state agencies to verify any resident applying for state benefits is in the U.S. legally. The proposal will be introduced as a bill in the Legislature, which begins its session next week. The bill’s sponsor will be Sen. Mike Friend of Omaha. The proposal would not affect federally mandated benefits such as emergency medical assistance and short-term emergency disaster relief.
Nebraska governor blasts lawmakers for killing immigration bill
Governor Dave Heineman on Friday angrily criticized state lawmakers for killing a bill he says would help keep illegal immigrants from getting state benefits. Heineman said during a news conference Friday that he was disappointed with the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee for killing the bill (LB963) and that Nebraskans are going to be upset and angry over the decision. The bill would have required state agencies to verify that residents applying for state benefits are in the United States legally, among other things. State Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha says the governor is “riding a crest of racism.”
Eight arrested in immigration raid at Omaha factory
Eight workers have been arrested during an immigration raid at an Omaha factory.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts says eight illegal immigrants from
No charges were filed against the business. An investigation is under way.
Stage set for immigration debate in Legislature
The legislative stage is set for another debate on illegal immigration. A bill (LB963) requested by Gov. Dave Heineman that targets illegal immigrants was introduced Tuesday.
It would require state agencies to verify any resident applying for state benefits is in the United States legally.
Heineman has said the federal government has failed to curtail illegal immigration, forcing states to act.
His proposal would help ensure that benefits available to U.S. citizens are preserved for those who qualify for assistance.
Illegal immigrants already are prohibited under federal law from receiving most state benefits. However, some have said the prohibitions need to be in state law.
Illegal employee sentenced for using false documents in Columbus, Neb.
A Columbus man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for using false documents while applying for a job at a meat production plant.
Melvin Rivera-Cuculista also faces deportation to Guatemala.
The 25-year-old Rivera-Cuculista used the name and Social Security number of a Massachusetts man.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said he admitted buying the Social Security number and other ID information.
Eleven illegal immigrants who fled from van are caught near Minden, Neb.
Eleven undocumented immigrants were arrested after a traffic stop Wednesday west of the Minden interchange.
The Nebraska State Patrol stopped a westbound 1999 Toyota minivan with California license plates shortly after 5 p.m. about a mile from the interchange.
The trooper found 11 Spanish-speaking men in the minivan. When the trooper returned to his patrol car to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they ran into a wooden area south of I-80 along the Platte River. Seven were found about 9:15 p.m. near the Gibbon interchange.
The others were found hours later.
Nebraska population growth up in 2006-2007
By Nebraska standards, population trends took a relatively robust turn in 2007 in a preliminary annual comparison released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
A one-year increase of 0.6% in total population is the best since 1996-1997.
The same goes for an increase of 11,000 in the total number of people living in the state. And the “natural increase” in population, a measure of births versus deaths, is the highest since the early 1980s, David Drozd, a researcher at UNO, said.
To some extent, that reflects gains in Nebraska’s Hispanic population since 1990 and the tendencies of Hispanic women to have more children.
From April 2000, through July 2007, the Census Bureau estimates that 27,398 people moved to Nebraska from other countries. Over that same period, 36,717 left Nebraska to live elsewhere.
The state’s total population count is about 1.775 million.
Grand Island business owner pleads guilty to harboring illegal immigrants
A Grand Island lawn care company owner has pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants and manipulating financial transactions to avoid reporting them.
David Wortman turned himself in for arrest last month, one day after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler and arrested 19 suspected illegal immigrants.
The criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Nebraska accused Wortman of knowingly hiring the illegal workers and paying them in cash to work for Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler.
Wortman admitted Monday to hiring 26 workers without checking their identification or getting any proof they were eligible to work in the United States.
Counts said the 26 workers arrested had not yet been deported and were awaiting hearings at an immigration court in Omaha.
In a plea deal, Wortman agreed to be sentenced to 30 months in prison and to file new tax returns for 2005 and 2006.
The company had provided some lawn care, maintenance and snow removal services for the city of Grand Island from sometime in 2002 to sometime in 2005.
TB-tainted Mexian businessman crosses border 76 times
A Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis crossed the U.S. border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the last year, according to Customs and Border Protection interviews and documents obtained.
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency was warned by health officials on April 16 that the frequent traveler was infected, but it took the Homeland Security officials more than six weeks to issue a May 31 alert to warn its own border inspectors, according to Homeland Security sources who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Homeland Security took one more week to tell its own Transportation Security Agency.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) is a highly contagious illness and also resistant to the two most commonly used drugs to treat TB.
The infected man identified as Amado Isidro Armendariz Amaya made at least one more trip across the U.S. border on May 21, where he applied for an I-94 visa to extend his stay in the U.S.
Johanns Splits With Bush Over Illegal Immigrants - “They Must Go Home”
As a member of President Bush’s Cabinet, Mike Johanns spoke in support of the president’s controversial immigration bill that went down in political flames.
As a budding U.S. Senate candidate, Johanns gave notice Wednesday that he plans to part company with Bush and his plan to give illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.
Johanns said Wednesday that he would oppose any legislation that offered citizenship to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in this country.
They must go home or face deportation, he said. Johanns said voters will not hold against him his past support for a bill that no longer exists.