“Last week’s worksite enforcement actions tore apart Nebraska families and sent harmful ripple effects across our state. These events – and their overwhelming impact on people and workplaces – are symptoms of a broader 40-year policy failure by Congress to update our federal immigration laws.

On top of these outdated laws, in the last few months, rolling back work-authorization programs – coupled with broader detention and removal – is moving U.S. immigration policy in the wrong direction and damaging local communities.

As Nebraska leaders in agriculture, health care, aging care, child care, education, hospitality, construction, business, faith, and labor, we urgently call on Nebraska’s Congressional delegation to work with their colleagues in Congress to fix these long-outdated laws. From our many perspectives and thousands of conversations across the state, we know the current situation is unsustainable. We have tens of thousands of unfilled jobs of all types in our state. As baby boomers retire in large numbers, this situation will only get worse.

We’re operating with immigration laws that are still from the era of telephone land lines instead of cell phones – or like roads that haven’t been fixed since the 1970s or 80s. This affects our daily lives in Nebraska. We all want to know there will be doctors, tech support, and a clean room when a loved one needs medical care. We all want to know there will be milk and meat in the case at the grocery store. We all want to know there will be talented teachers for education and childcare. We all want to know there will be the behind-the-scenes skills – transportation, construction, maintenance, food service – for the community systems we all rely on.

Neighbors, employees, and family members who have been contributing important work and paying taxes for decades should have a way to apply for immigration status and residency. Community members who grew up here since childhood – or neighbors who started on a temporary visa and have now been part of the community for years – should have a way to say, “Nebraska is my home, I’d like to apply for residency.” But that’s not the case until Congress fixes the outdated laws.

Together we build vibrant communities and the Good Life, but immigrant neighbors cannot continue to contribute to Nebraska’s success while Congress ignores the hurdles, uncertainty, and challenges of outdated immigration policy.

Fixing the problem can’t be done – and shouldn’t be done – with executive orders, which creates uncertainty in a process that needs the opposite. This simply must be the result of thoughtful federal policy – debated, crafted, written, and enacted by Congress.

It’s not surprising that our immigration laws aren’t working after 40 years of inaction by Congress. But that’s exactly what we saw again last week, and it is not in the best interest of Nebraska communities. It is time for stability for families, employers, communities, and the systems we all rely on. It’s time for Congress to act.”

Statement from Nebraska Alliance for Thriving Communities