In community after community across Nebraska and the Great Plains, people agree that local families need help reuniting, that family breadwinners need clear legal status while they are working, living, and paying taxes in our area, and that we should provide a pathway to citizenship for our newest neighbors.

The coming months bring an historic opportunity to accomplish comprehensive reform of our national immigration laws. The public deserves a reasoned and substantive debate about how to mend a broken immigration system that continues to separate families, divide communities, punish hardworking individuals who help form the engine of our local and national economy, and entrench a two-tiered system of those with legal status and those without. As the discussion heats up, however, anti-immigrant groups with easy slogans are trying to sway a public that is often unfamiliar with the complexities of the immigration system. Against this backdrop, it is essential that we amplify the local voices who speak to the principles of justice, tolerance, and integration on which our nation is built.

The central plains states play an important role in this debate. Because the resurgence in immigration is a relatively new phenomenon here, we are a region where opinions on the matter are less entrenched, creating both an excellent opportunity for open-minded approaches to immigration reform but also an appealing target for small but vocal anti-immigrant groups. In addition, the Heartland states are largely defining many national debates, including that on immigration. For example, Nebraska is the home of leading Congressional voice U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, who introduced last year’s most important comprehensive immigration proposal.

Longtime residents of the region tend to be fair-minded people who believe that everyone should be treated fairly and equally. Many have seen the positive effects and community revitalization that have occurred through newcomers’ contributions. Across the heartland, support is growing for sensible immigration reform. Increasing numbers of community leaders and average people on the street are frustrated by a system that keeps their neighbors in second-class status.

Nebraska Faith Leaders and Public Call for Action on Immigration Reform This Year

Yesterday, we were honored to take part in a powerful event highlighting the continuing urgency for immigration reform. A large gathering of prominent local leaders from diverse faith traditions held a prayer vigil with people of faith and good will calling for the humane treatment of all immigrant families and a workable immigration policy to help us all move forward together. See photos.

Dozens of faith leaders participated in Omaha and other locations around the state to lift up the protection of immigrants and their families, the unity of Nebraska communities, and to pray for moral leadership from Nebraska’s Congressional leaders and President Obama. Read More...

Detention in America series: Careless Detention | System of Neglect

As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care Often Pay a Heavy Cost

In this series of articles, Washington Post reporters Dana Priest (Walter Reed Army Medical Center report) and Amy Goldstein examine the treatment of detainees as well as the alarming number of detainee deaths in ICE detention centers.

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