Illegal immigration hearing under way in Fremont

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10393550

Published Tuesday July 29, 2008
Illegal immigration hearing under way in Fremont

BY CINDY GONZALEZ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

About 800 people filled the Fremont High School auditorium tonight as a public hearing got underway on a proposed ordinance seeking to ban illegal immigrants.

The proposal has elevated tensions in this town of 25,000 like no other issue in recent history, and that was reflected by the heavy law enforcement presence: some 40 officers from the Fremont and Omaha Police Departments, the Nebraska State Patrol and the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.

The auditorium was swept by bomb-sniffing dogs before the public filed in two lines past portable and hand-held metal detectors beginning at about 6 p.m.

Proposed by longtime City Councilman Bob Warner, the ordinance that drew the crowd for the 7 p.m. hearing aims to penalize those who rent to or employ illegal immigrants within the city boundaries.

Specifically, the proposal would require contractors and employers that get licenses, permits or loans from the city to participate in a program that electronically verifies a job applicant’s immigration status.

Noncompliance could result in the yanking of a city license, loan or grant.

FULL story at link.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Guess I better start wearing a big yellow M on my sleve nt

[aspergris]

2. this is what many here have proposed

penalize the EMPLOYERS for hiring them, not the people merely for being here.

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. The irony here is that the largest employer of immigrant labor in Fremont is outside city limits

My understanding is that the large Hormel packing plant technically does not reside within the city limits.

[DCKit]

4. Maybe, but those people have to live somewhere. n/t

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. Make it hard enough on Hormel, and they'll relocate to a place where they can live