Many Neb. lawmakers back stiffer immigration

Regional News

By JEAN ORTIZ Associated Press Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A majority of state lawmakers who participated in an Associated Press pre-session survey say they favor policies that take a tougher stance against illegal immigration.

Those measures include restricting hiring of illegal immigrants and keeping illegal immigrants from collecting tax-funded benefits.

Twenty-four legislators said they support requiring employers use a federal Internet-based employment eligibility verification system called E-Verify.

One said he could not support such a measure.

Fourteen said they were unsure and one skipped the question.

Nine senators did not participate in the survey.

"Although I do not like mandates and more paperwork, this is essential," said Sen. Russ Karpisek of Wilber. "Since employers already need to send in names and Social Security numbers, I don't know why it isn't already being done."

More than 87,000 employers in the United States use the free, online verification system operated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. Several Nebraska employers already use the system on a voluntarily basis.

Supporters and critics of E-Verify have both said the system is not without flaws.

Supporters say it is the best tool available. Critics have faulted the system's inability to pick up duplicate uses of Social Security numbers. Misspelled names, last names entered as middle names and outdated information also have led to mistakes.

Sen.-elect Ken Haar of Malcolm said he supports E-Verify as long as it can handle all the traffic. But Haar says the state's involvement won't fix all.

"The only real solution is for the federal government to reform and enforce immigration laws; in reality anything we can do as a state is at best a Band-Aid," he said.

Lawmakers could be considering more than employment policy when the session gets under way Jan. 7.

Twenty-six senators support prohibiting tax benefits for illegal immigrants and eliminating in-state tuition eligibility for Nebraska high school graduates brought illegally to the country.

Two said no to such measures. Eight said they were unsure. Three didn't answer the question.

Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which has studied immigration impacts across the state, puts himself in the "other" category.

The tuition law should be reviewed considering recent court decisions and failure to pass related federal legislation, he said.

The 2006 law allows illegal immigrants who graduated from high school in Nebraska and who are pursuing or promise to pursue legal status to pay in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities.

In a recently released report that Ashford authored based on the committee's study, he said the law is largely symbolic because federal officials have made no changes to create a path to citizenship for those students who qualify for the tuition break. And citizenship, he says, is critical to securing a job post-graduation.

Those who've supported the law have said it allows those students to contribute to society and local economies and it would cost the state more by not educating them. Others have argued the measure undermines federal immigration policy and rewards illegal activity.