Bill to benefit Nebraska immigrant ‘Dreamers' squashed after Trump order

Yahoo

15-03-2025

A Nebraska bill that would have benefited immigrant DACA recipients won't move forward, sponsors said. Shown here, supporters of the DACA program rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court. (Robin Bravender/ States Newsroom)
LINCOLN — A proposed Nebraska law that had bipartisan support and would have benefited immigrant 'Dreamers' has been crushed under the weight of a Trump administration threat that the state could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid if it is enacted.
Legislative Bill 299, in part, sought to align Nebraska with what advocates said already had been the practice of most, if not all, other states: allowing immigrants who have legal permission to work in the U.S. but lack permanent residency access to the unemployment insurance benefits their employers pay into.
Before the bill's sponsors backed off Thursday, LB 299 had cleared a few key hurdles, including a March 6 vote by the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee that poised the measure for debate by the state's full lawmaking body.
But a Feb. 19 executive order from President Donald Trump titled 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders' has since come into play.
State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner withdrew her name Thursday from the bill. Co-sponsor State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha said she saw no alternative but to drop the effort this year.
Proponents said they were maddened by the latest twist for the proposed law that had gained support from a range of business and civic groups.
A leader of the religious coalition Omaha Together One Community told the Nebraska Examiner on Friday that its members are 'outraged.'
'The fact that the federal government would swoop in and block a bill that clearly represented the will of Nebraskans is a blatant insult to our state and should not be tolerated,' said Kathleen Grant.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's spokesperson, Laura Strimple, said Friday that the governor was pleased with the recent turn of events.
'Governor Pillen strongly opposes giving taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens and is pleased the Legislature will not act on this bill further this session,' she said.
LB 299 sponsors said the bill primarily would have impacted so-called 'Dreamers,' who grew up in the U.S. after being brought here illegally as minors by their parents and who obtained legal permission, under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, to work and live in the country.
DACA recipients don't have permanent residency, and the program has been challenged in court.
LB 299, they said, also was designed to benefit asylum-seekers who have been granted work authorization while their requests are reviewed and others with Temporary Protected Status, which is granted when returning to a person's home country is unsafe due to natural disaster, extraordinary conditions or war.
While advocates have mostly focused on opening the door to unemployment benefits, the bill called for 'eligible aliens' who are employed in Nebraska to have access to the same public employment benefits offered to any other similarly situated employee, with a few exceptions. Access included participation in certain public retirement and deferred compensation programs.
There's no way I can fight a threat like that.
– State Sen. Margo Juarez of Omaha
The 6-0 legislative committee vote that pushed the bill to the debate stage came after state and federal labor officials had resolved what Ibach described last week as a 'technical' problem with the bill.
The concern was raised during a Feb. 10 public hearing. Nebraska Labor Commissioner Katie Thurber told lawmakers that LB 299, as then drafted, could cost the state more than $400 million in federal tax credits.
She said the original language was too broad, created a new state definition for 'eligible alien' and would allow benefits even if the immigrant lost legal authorization to work in the U.S.
Ibach and Juarez believed that the path had been smoothed — until, they said, a federal labor official reached out to the state Labor Department and Pillen's office this week, bringing up the Feb. 19 executive order.
Juarez said she was caught off guard and was told that millions of dollars were at risk. 'There's no way I can fight a threat like that.'
Thurber, in a statement to the Examiner on Friday, said that while an amendment addressed an initial concern, 'the situation has become complicated with recently proposed federal actions.'
She said, for example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on March 10 issued a proposed rule removing DACA recipients from the definition of 'lawfully present' for the purposes of eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. 'This coupled with the executive order from President Trump … makes it clear that extending benefits to illegal immigrants, including DACA recipients, is in direct conflict with federal policy.'
Thurber said the bill 'poses significant risk that Nebraska's unemployment insurance system could face consequences if it goes against federal directives' aimed at illegal immigration.
The Trump order, citing a 1996 federal law, said the law 'generally prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.'
The directive gave federal agencies and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, 30 days to identify federally-funded programs that 'permit illegal aliens to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit.'
Ibach said she retreated from LB 299 after Pillen's staff alerted her to the executive order and potential fallout.
'We were disappointed but thankful the Governor's Office called our attention to the reality of how LB 299 was going to be framed going forward,' she said.
Nick Grandgenett, an attorney with Nebraska Appleseed, views the executive order as applicable to federal public benefits and said the proposed legislation pertained to state employment benefits.
'It really is outside the scope of that executive order,' he said.
But adding the Trump order to an already complex marriage of immigration and employment systems muddies the waters, he said.
'I don't think there is truly a problem with the bill,' Grandgenett said. 'The confusion is kind of winning the day.'
State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said the situation signals trouble for Nebraska. She characterized LB 299 as an important bill with bipartisan support and challenged Nebraska Republican officials at all levels of government to stand up.
'When we have people in leadership not standing up for vulnerable populations like those covered in this bill, then we are going to be in a really bad place,' she said.
Representatives of organizations such as the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nebraska Catholic Conference, and the Nebraska Alliance for Thriving Communities spoke in support of the bill during the public hearing. The alliance is a coalition that includes labor unions, hospitals, banks, cattlemen and pork producers.
Ibach sees the effort as dead for now, unless labor officials can find a path forward. She said she'd continue to work on immigration and DACA reform.
Juarez said she had made LB 299 her priority bill because she felt strongly that the targeted immigrant populations working with U.S. authorization deserved access to benefits — and that Nebraska businesses needed their talent.
She said she is left 'extremely frustrated,' but won't give up and hopes for a revival during a different legislative session.
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