One year later
June 9, 2026 at Plaza de la Raza
Earlier this month, I stood alongside Dr. Roger García and members of our community at a press conference to mark one year since the ICE raids that shook South Omaha — and to name, out loud, what those raids cost us.
They cost businesses. They cost families. They cost children who went to school the next morning not knowing if their parents would be home when they returned.
And we are still counting the cost.
But I am not here to only share what has been taken from us. I am here to be clear about who we are — and to make sure Nebraska does not forget it either.
There are over 233,000 immigrants in this state. They contribute $2 billion in taxes annually. Latino workers are the backbone of Nebraska's meatpacking plants, its construction sites, its restaurants, its fields. The Latino community contributes $4.1 trillion to the U.S. GDP — not as a footnote, but as a foundation.
We are not a problem to be managed. We are a people who built this state alongside everyone else.
So when the Trump administration and Governor Pillen quietly collaborated — bypassing the democratic process — to dismantle Nebraska's 2006 in-state tuition law, they weren't just targeting a tuition policy. They were sending a message to thousands of young people who grew up in Nebraska classrooms, graduated from Nebraska high schools, and dared to imagine a future here: You don't fully belong.
Let me be direct: that message is wrong, it is harmful, and LEDC will not be silent about it.
The Nebraska Legislature has repeatedly refused to repeal this law. The public has shown up in opposition every single time it was threatened. And yet — three days after the Legislature adjourned — the federal government filed suit, the state immediately surrendered, and the Attorney General didn't even attempt to defend Nebraska's own law.
A proposed consent decree would triple tuition costs for these students overnight. It would force many to abandon their college plans entirely. It would gut organizations like True Potential, which has invested in Nebraska's immigrant students since 2014 — students who are your neighbors, your coworkers, your community.
I am asking every person reading this to understand what is at stake — not just for our community, but for Nebraska as a whole. This state already faces population decline and brain drain. We cannot afford to close the door on the very people who are building its future.
We stand with True Potential. We stand with Orel Alliance. We stand with every student who deserves the same shot at a future in the state they call home.
And to our community — to every family that has felt the weight of this past year, every young person wondering if they belong here, every business owner who kept their doors open despite everything:
We see you. We are fighting for you. And we are not going anywhere.
Porque vamos juntos, adelante.
