Doug Bereuter: “Mr. Chairman, Nebraska and Iowa are major destinations for illegal aliens and alien smugglers due to extremely low…”

“Mr. Chairman, Nebraska and Iowa are major destinations for illegal aliens and alien smugglers due to extremely low unemployment rates, the number of meat-packing plants, and other labor-intensive industries, and due to the fact that two major interstate highways which cross the States, I-80 and I-29, are serving as what seems to be considered a low-risk corridor for smuggling aliens to other parts of our Nation. The Omaha INS office, which serves both States, could not respond to approximately 55 possible instances of alien smuggling, including 382 suspected illegal aliens in Nebraska and Iowa, because the INS did not allocate additional resources to respond. The INS Omaha District Office has a small staff when compared with nearby district offices. Additionally, it does not have a much needed antismuggling unit, in contrast to other interior INS districts in the United States. Mr. Chairman, do you agree that INS should allocate additional agents as part of an antismuggling unit to the Omaha District Office to fight the smuggling of illegal aliens into and through Nebraska and Omaha?”