Nebraska
ACLU accuses Omaha court of violating immigrants’ due process in Nebraska, Iowa – Iowa Capital Dispatch
LINCOLN, Nebraska — A new report from the ACLU of Nebraska accuses the U.S. Department of Justice immigration court in Omaha of routinely violating due process rights in immigrants’ removal proceedings.
The new report, unveiled Friday, is based on more than 500 pretrial hearings that researchers watched between April and August 2023. A team recorded the process and outcome of each hearing, including its length, whether immigrants were advised of their rights, the language they spoke and whether they had an interpreter or attorney.
The court oversees cases for people living in Nebraska and Iowa.
Dylan Severino, legal fellow for the Nebraska ACLU and the report’s lead author, said federal law guarantees that immigrants receive a full and fair removal hearing.
“What we saw is a far cry from that guarantee,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees such immigration courts, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Rights called an ‘unmovable object’
About 40% of removal proceedings for the Omaha court include people living in Iowa, according to the ACLU of Iowa. It also said more than 2,600 new proceedings were filed against people living in Iowa in the current fiscal year. Comparable figures were not provided for Nebraska.
Severino said pressures on courts, including growing caseloads and backlogs, should not affect constitutional rights.
“That’s an unmovable object that simply cannot be fringed upon for the sake of expediency,” Severino said at a Friday news conference.
The Nebraska ACLU’s report, produced in partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Legal Decision-Making Lab, presents four takeaways from 534 observed hearings:
- The duration of each procedural pretrial hearing was 3.9 minutes.
- Judges read immigrants their rights in 18% of observed hearings, often in group settings.
- For 32 immigrants whose preferred language was a Central American Indigenous language, such as Mam, Q’anjob’al and K’iche’, 81% did not have an interpreter.
- An attorney did not represent an immigrant in 19% of observed hearings.
The ACLU primarily observed non-detained cases before two of the three judges — U.S. Judges Alexandra Larsen and Abby Meyer. Judge Matthew Morrissey primarily presides over cases of detained immigrants, the ACLU said.
The report says 387 hearings before Judge Larsen were observed. They lasted an average of 3.8 minutes, and Larsen didn’t advise 79% of the immigrants of their rights. Of 147 hearings before Judge Meyer, she did not advise 92% of immigrants of their rights, and the hearings lasted an average of 3 minutes.
ACLU’s recommendations
Rose Godinez, Nebraska ACLU legal director, said the report indicates that the immigration system “is not working for anyone” and she hopes federal and state leaders pay attention.
“It is a problem that is shared by all of us, and the solution also depends on all of us,” she said.
Among the ACLU’s recommendations are for the court to advise immigrants of their rights individually before each hearing and provide adequate interpretation services. It also recommends that local or state governments create a program for guaranteed representation.
The ACLU also argues that the immigration courts should be federally restructured as an independent court system from the executive branch, with more immigration judges, who should come from diverse work experiences. Most of the system’s judges are former Immigrations and Customs Enforcement attorneys, including all three in Omaha.
In the meantime, the ACLU states, this “onus of depoliticization” falls on the DOJ.
“In a system that pits immigrants against the government, that bias can be determinative in life-or-death asylum cases,” the ACLU report states.
Severino said the Omaha court isn’t reaching the bar set by constitutional rights. He argued that reforms would help the court become more efficient by preventing retrials and appeals.
“The bottom line is that there needs to be action to address the problems we found and help more people stay in Nebraska and Iowa, put down roots, and continue to strengthen our communities,” Severino said.
A typical pretrial removal hearing for immigrants, or “Master Calendar Hearing,” is an important step that the attorneys with the ACLU of Nebraska and an immigration attorney said are some of the most important.
The following actions must occur during each immigrant’s pretrial hearing:
- The immigrant’s case is called for hearing.
- The judge asks the immigrant to pronounce their name.
- The judge requests that the immigrant name their attorney, if they have one.
- The judge advises the immigrant of their rights in the court.
- An ICE attorney describes allegations against the immigrant.
- The judge asks the immigrant to deny or admit to each allegation.
- The judge asks the immigrant to choose a country for deportation.
- If the immigrant refuses, the country is chosen for them.
- The judge asks if there are legal reasons the immigrant should not be deported.
- The judge sets deadlines for the submission of various forms, applications, statements and more.
- The judge schedules the next pretrial hearing or a final evidentiary hearing (known as a trial or “Individual Calendar Hearing”) to decide the case.
“There is no possible way to do all of that in four minutes.” — Rose Godinez, Nebraska ACLU legal director.
This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: [email protected]. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
Iowa coach Ben McCollum met with the media following his team’s 77-71 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Sweet 16. The Cornhuskers led by three at the half but Iowa was able to outscore Nebraska 34-25 in the second half.
Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 25 points while shooting 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 10 from the 3-point line. Bennett Stirtz led the Hawkeyes with 20 points and played for all 40 minutes.
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Iowa shot 52% (27-52) from the floor, 43% (13-30) from beyond the arc and 83% (10-12) from the free throw line. Nebraska struggled shooting 41% (24-58) from the field, 34% (13-38) from the 3-point line and 91% (10-11) from the charity stripe.
The Hawkeyes’ head coach acknowledged that his team had a poor start but a great finish and said that his team will need to play better to advance beyond the Elite Eight.
Yeah, I think to start we weren’t fantastic to start. They had an elite game plan to start. They played with elite pace. They adjusted their defense quite a bit. I think a lot of people will talk about the rivalry. I was around it when I was in Iowa, you know, and grew up in Iowa and understand the rivalry and whatnot. It’s nice to have — I guess if you would a call it rival that runs such a class program.
I think Coach Hoiberg, they have got great kids. They completely turned everything around from the previous season, and they have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about or anything. I have the utmost respect for them, all their players, and especially Coach Hoiberg. Heck of a season. I know it’s no consolation, but we still want to beat ’em every time and they want to beat us every time.
But from and internal perspective, there’s not a lot of bad blood there. It’s actually a lot of respect. I was really pleased with our second-half performance. I thought we actually decided we were going to try — not try. They had a lot to do with it, but kind of. Yeah, they’re smiling over there because they saw me break my marker.
And I thought our kids did a good job of executing offensively in both halves. We spent a lot of time trying to make sure that we could score, and you saw the result of that. We didn’t defend. But we were able to score, so we were able to stay in the game long enough and then get enough stops and had some big possessions down the stretch. Really good program win for everybody, coaches, managers, everybody included.
Iowa advances to the Elite Eight with the victory. Nebraska’s season ends with a record of 28-7.
Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: What Iowa coach Ben McCollum said after defeating Nebraska on Thursday
LINCOLN, Neb — Gov. Jim Pillen has appointed Antonio Gomez of Jackson to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, adding a longtime Siouxland business leader and public servant to the panel.
Commission members serve four-year terms and are subject to approval by the Nebraska Legislature.
Gomez launched Gomez Pallets in South Sioux City in 1983. He has since retired from daily operations, but last year the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce recognized him with the W. Edwards Deming Business Leadership and Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.
Gomez previously served on the Nebraska Commission on Latino Americans from 1981 to 2002. He also served as a Dakota County commissioner for 12 years and was on the Foundation Board for Northeast Community College.
Gomez’s appointment is effective April 1.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers will face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thursday in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. This is the Huskers’ first Sweet 16 in program history, while Iowa is playing in its first Sweet 16 since 1999.
Nebraska defeated Vanderbilt 74-72 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa advanced after beating the defending national champion, the Florida Gators, 73-72.
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CBS Sports reporter Isaac Trotter broke down Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup. Trotter started by looking at the two previous matchups in this series.
These teams have played twice. Iowa won at home in a 57-52 rockfight. Nebraska returned the favor by winning at home, 84-75 in overtime, in another to-the-death brawl.
It’s no secret that Nebraska’s defense caused significant problems for the Iowa offense in the second game, and if the Hawkeyes are going to win the rubber match, Trotter believes that turnovers will be the key.
There are no secrets in the rubber match. Nebraska’s no-middle defense has given Iowa real problems both times. The Hawkeyes turned it over 20% of the time in Game 1 and 26% of the time in Game 2. That can’t happen in the third encounter.
CBS Sports believes that Iowa has the best player on the floor in Bennett Stirtz, but Trotter also believes that Nebraska’s defense is just too much in the end for Iowa.
Iowa has the best player on the floor, Bennett Stirtz, and can hurt Nebraska on the glass, but the Huskers get the nod because of this pick-and-roll defense. You have to be able to guard ball screens effectively to shut down Iowa, and Nebraska has been an elite pick-and-roll defense, rating in the 99th percentile nationally, per Synergy.
In the end, Trotter selected Nebraska as his pick. Should the Huskers advance to the Elite Eight, Nebraska would play the winner of the Illinois-Houston game. Nebraska-Iowa play in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. CT on TBS.
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Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: CBS Sports predicts Nebraska-Iowa basketball in the Sweet 16
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