ASHLAND, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — U.S. Rep. Mike Flood said Thursday that he’ll visit the southern U.S. border next week to see first-hand what’s been described to him as a crisis.
“I’ve heard from several congressmen who said you’ve heard about the immigration problem, but when you actually see it … you would be shocked at what a humanitarian crisis it really is,” Flood said.
The Republican congressman said that border security is the top question he is asked by constituents in his eastern Nebraska congressional district. He added that he supports completion of the border wall begun by former President Donald Trump and a greater use of technology to stop the flow of drugs across the border.
Summit of federal legislators
Flood was among four of the five state’s congressional representatives speaking and answering questions at the annual Federal Legislative Summit, sponsored by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and the Omaha and Lincoln chambers.
About 300 people, including state senators, representatives of businesses and lobbyists, attended the event at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer did not attend due to a death in her family.
Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, moderated a group discussion. Immigration was the subject of the first question he asked U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse and Reps. Flood, Adrian Smith and Don Bacon.
Slone said that with 52,000 vacant jobs in Nebraska, the lack of workforce is the “number one, two, three, four and five” issues facing the state’s business community.
What steps, he asked the elected officials, could be taken to ease the workforce shortage that relate to immigrants? He mentioned accelerating the resettlement of refugees, expanding work visas and looking at changes in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.
All four members of the delegation — all Republicans — mentioned that increasing security at the border is key.
Presidential leadership lacking
Sasse said “small” immigration fixes and addressing workforce issues aren’t possible until there’s a framework for broader immigration reform and “presidential leadership.”
“We’ve had two administration in a row who haven’t, in any serious way, wanted to fix any of this,” Sasse said. “They want to maintain an issue that they want to use for politics.”
Bacon, who represents the Omaha area’s 2nd Congressional District, said he supports DACA reform, increased work visas and increased legal immigration to help agriculture find more workers.
But with approximately 4 million immigrants crossing the border illegally, Bacon said, it’s created a “toxic” atmosphere for seeking solutions.
Smith, who represents the 3rd Congressional District, said he also supports increasing legal immigration and use of technology to increase border security.
Both Smith and Flood spoke in support of making the legal immigration process less burdensome and reducing backlogs to obtain visas.
Flood said the backlog of legal visa applications has fallen from 439,000 a month at the beginning of the year to about 388,000 this month, but he said more progress is needed.
Fentanyl flowing across border
Flood, who won a special election in June to fill out the remainder of the term of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, said “the crime piece that no one is talking about is the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl from China and then across the border into the U.S. from Mexico. He said fentanyl is causing overdoses in communities large and small in Nebraska and must be stopped.
In comments after the event, Flood, a former state senator, said he cannot support amnesty or a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally or voting rights and government benefits for immigrants.
“I think at the end of the day, we have to build the wall. We also have to use technology,” he said.
When asked for a comment about Flood’s planned trip to the border, State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln, his Democratic challenger in the November election, said, Hopefully he comes back with real solutions and this isn’t just a gimmick.”
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
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