(The Center Square) – More than 1,000 miles from the US-Mexico border, Nebraska is grappling with illegal border crosser crime and local communities have been impacted by a surge of foreign nationals.
Immigration, both legal and illegal, is not new to the rural town of Fremont, with roughly 27,000 residents located roughly 45 minutes from Omaha. It’s home to several thousand Guatemalans who’ve arrived to primarily work in large meat processing plants.
Residents were so overwhelmed by foreign nationals that in 2010 they overwhelmingly passed an ordinance, Ordinance 5165, to require all renters to sign a declaration that they were in the country legally. The ordinance has held up in court.
By 2021, a fraudulent document ring had been uncovered in the town, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Nebraska said last year. A 42-year-old foreign national was arrested and sentenced for conspiracy to produce and transfer fraudulent documents. After serving time, he was ordered to be deported.
The investigation uncovered an identity theft conspiracy using a deceased person’s Social Security number that was used to make fraudulent Social Security cards, state driver’s licenses, and lawful permanent resident cards. Investigators found hundreds of counterfeit federal and state identity cards as part of their investigation. Two others involved in the scheme, one living in Nebraska, and the other in California, were sentenced to roughly two years in prison for their roles.
The head of Nebraska’s Department of Motor Vehicles fraud unit said he wasn’t surprised by the fraud ring location, telling NBC News, “A good majority of our cases are usually in and around cities and towns with meatpacking plants.”
Several recently announced cases by the US Attorney’s Office District of Nebraska paint a broader picture. In one recent case, a man from Sinaloa, Mexico, home to the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced on methamphetamine possession charges. A coconspirator was sentenced to more than 11 years. In another announcement earlier this month, a Mexican national was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison on meth-related charges. Others relate to illegal foreign national men sentenced on drug charges.
Other crimes also vary. According to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announcement in March, North Platte Police Department officers arrested a Honduran fugitive wanted for homicide. He was initially arrested for driving a vehicle without a license, but the officers contacted ICE, which promptly lodged a detainer request with the Lincoln County jail. ICE then arrested, detained and placed him into removal proceedings.
In July, Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger announced the arrest of an illegal foreign national in a traffic stop claiming to be from Houston, Texas. He was wanted on five felony charges in Indiana. He was arrested and jailed on the felony arrest warrant pending extradition to Indiana.
In October, in Lincoln County, Nebraska State Patrol announced they arrested three Mexican men for possession of methamphetamine, possession with the intent to deliver a hazardous drug, and intentional child abuse-no injury. When they were arrested, two small children were with them.
Last August, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of a Guatemalan man who allegedly starved and sexually abused his 17-year-old daughter. After illegally entering the country in early 2023, he “made arrangements [with human smugglers] for his daughter to be illegally brought into the United States from Guatemala and transported to him without her consent. Since arriving at the home in Lancaster County around July 16, 2023, [the man] allegedly forced the victim to work inside and outside of the home to repay the debt incurred for the transportation. The victim also reported that food had been withheld from her for five days prior to contact with Sheriff’s Deputies. The investigation also revealed that the victim was subjected to sexual contact by Gomez-Lopez,” the sheriff’s office said.
These are just a few examples of hundreds.
According to a legislative report released last month, 280 alleged criminal illegal border crossers are being detained in Nebraska Department of Correctional Services facilities.
They all have ICE detainer requests. Most ICE detainees in NDCS custody are incarcerated for violent or drug offenses, according to the report, including 54% for sex offenses, 13.6% for homicide, 10.4% for assault, and 7.5% for drug offenses.
ICE detainer requests are placed on removable non-citizens who’ve been arrested on criminal charges and are in the custody of state or local law enforcement agencies. They request local jurisdictions to hold the alleged offenders until ICE can apprehend them, to cooperate with ICE to transfer them to federal custody, and to notify ICE if for some reason they are released. Many Democratic-run jurisdictions have refused to cooperate with ICE, including one of the largest jurisdictions in Texas, The Center Square reported.
President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation plan involves removing the most violent offenders from the country first, including those with ICE detainers, The Center Square has reported. Those that don’t comply are likely to face federal prosecution under his plan.
