Fremont, Nebraska, has three massive meat-processing plants that need workers. It also requires anyone renting a home to sign a declaration that they’re in the U.S. legally.

Fremont, Nebraska, has three massive meat-processing plants that need workers. It also requires anyone renting a home to sign a declaration that they’re in the U.S. legally.

Big-city mayors may be complaining about the economic impact of an influx of migrants, but the residents of a small city near Omaha can’t decide how they feel.

Fremont, Nebraska, population 27,000, has three massive meat-processing plants. As young locals leave in search of better jobs, Central American migrants have been taking their places in the slaughterhouses, especially after Costco opened a huge rotisserie chicken facility in 2019.

“We need these people,” said Mark Jensen, president of the city council. “We need this work done. This is what feeds the nation and the world.”

But instead of a welcome mat, for more than a decade Fremont has had a controversial law on the books that tries to bar undocumented migrants from living within city limits. In 2010, residents voted 57% to 43% to require that all people renting property in Fremont must first sign a declaration that they are legally present in the U.S.

  • Red_October@lemmy.world
    10·
    8 months ago

    Not sure how legally binding the declaration is, but that’s neither here nor there. The answer is simple, let the town die. If they want to get their panties in a knot about migrants, then let’em work the shitty job themselves, and when they don’t, any businesses worth having around can relocate somewhere that won’t self-sabotage just to make a statement.

    Mark Jensen, president of the shitty council, needs to wake the fuck up. If they need those jobs then one way or another they need to retain people who will do those jobs, instead of antagonizing them.