Nebraska Chamber, immigrant advocacy group talk immigration policy and workforce solutions

The Holthus Convention Center in York overflowed with coffee and doughnuts Thursday as business owners, advocates and others gathered to learn about immigration policy and workforce solutions.

In collaboration with the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Immigrant & Refugee Advancement (CIRA) led the workforce summit, offering presentations with Nebraska policy makers, experts and advocates on workforce growth and how immigration policy interacts with it. Among the speakers was state Sen. Jana Hughes, whose district encompasses York.

“I fully realize the unemployment issues that we are going to have as a state, but also the United States as a whole, and so immigration is part of that story,” Hughes said. “We are based on immigrants.”

The conference focused on topics such as skill diversity and workforce development; how to prioritize stability and family support; and the immigration and refugee processes and programs that impact many in Nebraska’s workforce. One session focused on the extended period of time that immigrant workers and students face for applications in the immigration process; another centered around how those systems could be improved.

While many of the discussions around solutions focused on necessary changes at the federal policy level, many of the presentations focused on explaining what workers go through when they have to navigate the immigration process.

“I am an immigrant and (the process) was very overwhelming, just because I didn’t have the guidance or information back ten years ago,” said Grace Staehr, economic development coordinator with the York County Development Corporation.

Staehr said she is glad to see not only an abundance of opportunities and resources for people going through that process today, but that employers and community leaders in York wanted to be at the summit to learn about how they can help.

“There’s a lot of diversity in the York community,” Staehr said. “We want diversity in our community, and we need that workforce as well.”

Hughes said she has been working in the Nebraska Legislature to bring workers to rural communities. One bill she supported this year paved the way for licensed physicians trained in other countries to come work in Nebraska and work toward gaining citizenship. She sees the need for this type of legislation in her own community, as birth rates have fallen over time and the population ages. For example, she said nursing homes in her district struggle to keep sufficient staff on hand.

“Immigration can work hand in hand with these kinds of situations,” Hughes said. “I think just with the climate that we're in, there’s some negativity toward it for sure. We just need to be able to have some reasonable conversations.”

Eric Omar, executive director for CIRA, said those types of issues are present across the state, in both urban and rural areas. But his organization’s goal is to offer resources wherever they can.

“The business community is suffering from our current immigration policies,” Omar said. “As are our immigrant and refugee communities. And so when an immigrant or refugee loses a job because of immigration policy, that impacts us all.”