7 hours Ago
The details of President-elect Donald Trump’s long-promised crackdown on illegal immigration with the largest mass deportation in the country’s history haven’t yet been revealed. Nor has that plan survived the legal challenges and economic arguments that will be brought against it after Trump takes office in January. But immigration advocates and civil rights organizations are already planning for worst-case scenarios, as should Nebraskans, especially those in agriculture, meatpacking and construction.
Some 40,000 undocumented immigrants are believed to be living in Nebraska. That number, because of the difficulty of surveying people living in the country illegally, could range, according to a 2023 Pew Research report, anywhere from 25,000 to 75,000. That same survey estimated that about 35,000 undocumented immigrants are part of the state’s labor force, largely in manufacturing, construction and agriculture sectors.
People are also reading...
A mass deportation of 3% to 4% of the state’s workforce would disrupt, if not devastate, businesses that depend on undocumented immigrants to supply labor as, given the state’s miniscule unemployment rate and the nature of many of the jobs, it will be difficult if not impossible to find replacement workers. The crackdown also will resonate through local economies, affecting everything from grocery stores and restaurants to the housing market. And, it will, frankly, impede economic development in the state, which has long needed immigrants and refugees for continued growth.
Worse, perhaps, will be the humanitarian consequences of mass deportations. Family separation through detention and deportation, which the previous Trump administration used at the border, will likely be even greater under mass deportations and could be particularly painful in Nebraska’s small towns and cities where advocates say a lot of children could be left without their parents. Trump’s vow to expand workplace raids and public sweeps would also instantly put all immigrants in fear, some of an impending roundup that may or may not come, others, who are legal, of being unjustly swept up in a raid.
Nebraska got a taste of the impacts of such operations during 2018 raids in O’Neill in which Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a local tomato greenhouse complex, a potato processing facility and a cattle feedlot, resulting in 133 undocumented workers detained in makeshift camps.
The raids left employers with a significant workforce shortage, and multiple children were left behind after their parents were arrested. And the thought of using local law enforcement to assist ICE in those raids is chilling — and should be resisted at all levels in the state. Again, the Trump administration’s immigration and mass deportation plans have yet to be revealed.
And it remains to be seen if they’ll survive legal challenges and be implemented. But, if the mass deportations happen, they will damage Nebraska businesses, undermine local economies, terrify legal immigrants and citizens and separate children from their families in a heartless humanitarian disaster that will, in the long run, do little to actually address illegal immigration and the root issues behind it. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!.
