- Mayor Jean Stothert held her final town hall meeting in Millard.
- Stothert stated Omaha Police will not check citizenship unless a crime is committed.
- Stothert and Deputy Chief Scott Gray reassured residents about deportation concerns.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Monday was Mayor Stothert's final town hall meeting, and for Lilia Franciscon it was an opportunity to ask the mayor about the city's plans for deportation.
"Will you just share whatever plans you have or the city have of information about the deportation of immigrants," said Fransiscon.
Franciscon is an immigrant and naturalized citizen. She says she's lived in Omaha for over 35 years, and is speaking up on behalf of neighbors who dream of becoming U.S. citizens like her.
"It's important for people to know that not all the immigrants are undocumented or illegal, not all the immigrants are poor or uneducated," said Franciscon.
According to the American Immigration Council nearly 42 thousand undocumented immigrants live in Nebraska and have contributed 99.4 million dollars to local and state taxes, it's unclear how many live in Omaha.
Mayor Stothert and Deputy Chief Scott Gray made it clear to neighbors that OPD will not be seeking out undocumented immigrants but, will abide by federal law if an undocumented immigrant breaks the law.
"That's not within their protocol and their, their mission is not to check legal status. However, if there's a crime that has been committed, they will check legal status and that's just the policy of the Omaha Police Department. There is nothing that has come out from the federal government," said Mayor Stothert.
Mayor Stothert and Deputy Gray hope by meeting with neighbors that their questions were answered and relieved some concern.
"We certainly understand why people are anxious about this because everything's just unknown at this point. It's unknown, unknown for citizens, unknown for us," said Deputy Gray.
