Discussion About The Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act

by Charlie Janssen, State Senator (District 15)

The 2011 Legislative Session opened a few weeks ago and I couldn’t be prouder to represent the people of the District 15. We have a lot of tough issues that our state needs to tackle this session. I’m looking forward to working with our other lawmakers in an effort to address the problems facing our state, and hope we can reach conclusions that benefit the citizens of Nebraska.

There is one issue I have been working on for years and is currently receiving state and even national attention, and that is the issue of illegal immigration. I introduced LB48, also known as the Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act, in the Legislature on January 6th.

I have communicated with literally thousands of people through e-mails, phone calls, and personal conversations who say they want something done about the illegal immigration issue. They are tired of seeing or hearing about how illegal immigrants are here and our tax dollars are paying for services for them, while taxpaying citizens appear to be getting the short end of the stick.

When I first started working on this legislation, I tried to move the emotion to the side and arm myself with the facts. The Pew Hispanic Research Center published a report recently saying that there were 30,000 illegal immigrants in Nebraska in 2000, and by 2008, that number had risen to over 45,000. That number is likely several thousand higher today. Think about that for a minute: At least 45,000 people living in the state of which we have no medical records, educational records, or criminal records.

Their children go to our public schools and our teachers are told to instruct them without knowing if these children have special needs, or if they are of higher ability. Doctors have no records of the family’s immunizations or medical history, so they are unsure how to treat them. They avoid interactions with police because they are afraid that they’re going to get deported, so they don’t report crimes committed against them. There are many logistical nightmares created because we don’t know anything about these illegal immigrants. (post continued)

The people who support the illegal immigrants have, time and again, tried to turn this into a debate about emotion, not about fact. That is the simple way out, and one of the things that upsets me the most about this debate. Unfortunately, people who ask questions or want illegal immigrants deported are called “racist”. I was called a racist because of the term “anchor baby”, which I did not create, and has been used on both sides of the argument since the 1980′s. I was said to have offended Hispanics by a blog writer who is not even Hispanic himself. I was also told in one e-mail that I was dangerously categorizing illegal immigrants when I referred to them as “them” or “they”. I was even told that if there was a Tucson-style shooting in Nebraska, that the blood would be on my hands.

There will be a hearing in front of the Unicameral’s Judicial Committee about LB48, sometime during this Legislative session. There will be people who will want to tell success stories of illegal immigrants who thrived despite hardships. Ironically, these same people will dismiss testimony of those who lost loved ones at the hands of a lawbreaking illegal, because they will say you can’t define a culture based on the actions of one person. These same people will preach about Nebraska’s common values while saying it’s okay to look the other way while federal law is being broken. I will try to bring up facts, like how the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services released figures showing that in November 2010 alone, $53 million in welfare benefits were issued to parents who reside in the United States illegally and collect benefits for their native-born children. (The same agency claims that, combined with public safety costs and health care costs, the “total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers” was more than $1.6 billion in 2010, and that is strictly in Los Angeles County) Opponents to my bill will counter these facts by giving hypothetical scenarios, such as how we might separate families and how illegal immigrant children might live in fear because they are afraid their parents might be deported.

I was elected to do the best possible job that I can for the people of District 15. I have always let my common sense guide me, and not special interests. If I’m going to introduce legislation, I want to make sure I have the facts and not base it on emotional appeal. The people of the state have overwhelmingly told me they want this legislation to go through, and in the end, that’s who answer to.

Charlie Janssen is Fremont’s senator in the Nebraska Legislature and blogs for Fremonter.com.