Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

10/19/00 News Report -- Statepaper.com (Nebraska)

LINCOLN -- Illegal immigrants shouldn't be granted amnesty, Mike Johanns said Wednesday.

Johanns responded to a recommendation for amnesty contained in a report released Monday by a task force examining Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement activities in Nebraska. That group, which has met for more than a year, said illegal immigrants should be offered amnesty from prosecution under immigration law.

Johanns said that if the federal government offered amnesty for illegal immigrants, it would be tantamount to offering a reward to people who had broken the law.

The governor said he would support a federal program of temporary work permits or temporary visas for foreign citizens who wish to work in Nebraska's meatpacking industry.

"Quite simply, we need the labor," Johanns said. Meatpacking operations are constantly seeking new workers because of the physically challenging nature of the job.

A reporter asked Johanns whether temporary work permits or visas would trap workers in one kind of job forever. Johanns said he would want people to be free to move on to different jobs, but only after a notification process that would let officials keep track of people in the country on permits or visas.

As for continuing concern surrounding working conditions for the mostly Hispanic workers at Nebraska meatpacking plants, Johanns had words of optimism. There's such a demand for employees, he said, that the industry will have to improve conditions.

"I just believe that because of the labor shortage, we're going to see major companies doing everything they can to improve the situation," he said.

Johanns' opposition to an amnesty for illegal immigrants could not block enactment of such a program. Immigration law is a federal, not a state issue.

University of Nebraska at Omaha professor Lourdes Gouveia, a member of the INS task force, supports an amnesty program. The task force, having completed its work, is now disbanded. Gouveia predicted that individual members like herself would continue to work for amnesty.

There are millions of undocumented workers who have been in the United States for long periods of time, Gouveia said. They've been working, building the economy and paying taxes. Their contribution to the nation's prosperity should be recognized, she said.