UNL Researchers found the Grand Island immigration raid may have hurt more than helped the small Nebraska community.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted an immigration raid at the Grand Island Swift packing plant on Dec. 12, 2006. While many were in support of the government's proactive response to the growing concern of undocumented immigration, others are still coping with the aftermath.
Yolanda Nuncio, Central Service Area Administrator for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, has worked closely with Grand Island families affected by the raids.
“They’re good citizens,” said Nuncio. “They’re respectful, they’re hard workers.”
Cody Hollist, UNL assistant professor of child, youth and family studies, is researching the effects of immigration raids on communities. Focusing largely on the Grand Island immigration raid, Hollist hopes his findings will help communities develop a proper response to future events like these.
Because the Swift packing plant lost more than 10% of its employees, children were left without parents and homes without owners. As a result, almost 200 children had no parents to go home to after school.
Child and Protective Services, which was not warned that these raids would occur, didn’t have the capacity to find homes for these children.
“It was a surprise to the whole community,” Nuncio said.
Hollist found that teachers sent many children home to family friends or relatives in anticipation of the parents’ return. In most cases, parents were back within two days to be with their children, Hollist said.
“Coyotes,” those that are paid to guide immigrants across the Mexico-U.S. border illegally, heard news of the raid and knew parents would be desperate to come back to their children. Hollist said coyotes nearly doubled their prices, and parents returned to Grand Island with little or no money,damaging the community’s economy.
Immigrants who weren’t deported affected the Grand Island economy as well, said Nuncio. Families were afraid to leave their homes, fearing another government raid. Businesses suffered because people weren’t spending money as they used to. In a town the size of Grand Island, the economic impact of these situations is detrimental.
Hollist, who speculates that many children suffered great emotional damage from the raids, said he will begin case studies and personal interviews later this year to examine that.
“Congress has to come up with some kind of comprehensive immigration reform,” said Nuncio.
That’s why researchers, such as Hollist, submit information to the Latino Research Initiative. The Latino Research Initiative gathers research summaries concerning the Latino community and uses them to inform the general public of culturally sensitive issues. Hollist’s project is no exception.
“In an ideal world,” Hollist said, “I hope that the negative impacts of immigration raids would be recognized.”
