Legislature looks at immigration policy

LINCOLN -- A federal effort to step up deportation of illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes is also ensnaring those arrested for minor offenses, a state legislative committee was told Monday morning.

In one case in Omaha, a 23-year-old Latino man was deported through the federal Secure Communities program after being detained by police investigating an illegally parked car, according to Pastor Jose Wilkinson, associate pastor of three Catholic parishes in South Omaha.

Wilkinson said the man's pregnant wife was left behind in a hospital to make some difficult medical decisions on her own. Her infant child died in childbirth.

"This is exactly why we don't want law enforcement officers involved in immigration," the priest told the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.

The committee hearing focused on how Nebraska law enforcement agencies deal with illegal immigrants they encounter and how those agencies are cooperating with the federal Secure Communities program.

Under that program, federal immigration officials are automatically forwarded fingerprints of all people who are arrested from 13 Nebraska counties. Those counties — the largest in the state — are the first to be incorporated into the program.

Col. David Sankey, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, said that this year, 28,492 fingerprints have been forwarded to federal authorities, resulting in 196 deportations.

While the Secure Communities program is supposed to target those who commit serious felony crimes, officials with Omaha's Latino Center of the Midlands and the Lincoln-based Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest said it is also resulting in the deportation of those who have been arrested for minor offenses.

Posted in: Immigration Forms, immigration in the united states, immigration in usa, immigration law