NTF issue paper: illegal186.doc. 3-22.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE PAPER:
TONY VARGAS IN CONGRESS WILL OPEN FLOODGATES TO ILLEGAL ALIENS, EXPAND WELFARE.
BACKGROUND. During his tenure on the Omaha Public School Board from 2013 to 2016 and in the Legislature since 2016, Tony Vargas has served slavishly as the champion of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. and Nebraska. His initiatives on the school board and in the Unicameral heavily favor not only granting illegal aliens many taxpayer-funded services but also encouraging aliens from south of the border to flood into the U.S.
RUN FOR CONGRESS. Declaring his candidacy for 2nd District Congress, Vargas will rely for voters heavily on his Dist.7 legislative constituents, where 48.52% of the population is Hispanic. The Latino vote increased by 250% for his 2016 election. He raised over $700,000 for his congressional campaign in 2021.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. A lengthy list of liberal and leftwing contributors has filled his campaign coffers. Teamsters Union $250, Steamfitters Union $1,000, Sheet Metal Workers Union $1,000, NE AFL-CIO $300, United Food & Commercial Workers Union $2,200, International Union of Elevator Constructors $1,500, Carpenters Union $2,000, Locomotive Union $500, IBEW Union $6,250, NE State Education Association $6,500, NE Democrat Party $800, Latino Victory Fund $1,000, Everytown for Gun Safety $500, Mike Yanney and his Burlington Capitol Co. $4,000, Jane Raybould $250, U. Regent Barb Weitz $1,000, State Sen. Pansing-Brooks $300, and liberal Omaha City Councilman Vinny Palermo $250.
SUPPORT FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS. As state senator, Vargas wrote NE Att.-Gen. Doug Peterson, blasting him for supporting the Trump Administration rescinding the Dreamers Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) decree of 2012 issued by Pres. Obama, which offered temporary amnesty to children of illegal aliens and allowed them to gain Social Security numbers and work permits, whereby they could take jobs from Americans. Unfortunately, a liberal federal judge ordered Pres. Trump to continue the DACA program and begin accepting new applications. In 2017, senators led by Vargas introduced a resolution, LR 26, supporting DACA recipients, believing they never should face deportation. The resolution asked the Legislature to formally express opposition to federal actions that would eliminate DACA. Unfortunately, a sympathetic legislature passed his resolution. Vargas champions giving illegals professional licenses, driver’s licenses, and in-state college tuition. In NE, Homeland Security and immigration officers snared dozens of illegals in packing plant raids, a popular procedure though condemned by Vargas.
SPECIAL FAVORITISM. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Vargas attempted to divert special attention and funding to meatpacking industry employees, many of whom are illegal aliens. He claimed, without valid scientific proof, that COVID-19 was adversely affecting these employees, because the meatpackers were forcing them to work while sick, without personal protection, and too closely together. Moreover, he publicized without evidence that 60% of the coronavirus cases in NE were among Hispanics. His LB 241 would have allowed workers who even suspected they had COVID-19 to leave work with additional paid sick leave. Vargas twice introduced this bill to force meatpacker employers to offer workers extra paid sick leave and superfluous personal protective equipment. His ACLU allies filed a lawsuit on behalf of these workers against a beef processor in Hastings for supposedly not taking adequate health precautions to protect workers. Indeed, the hottest virus spots occurred in counties heavily populated by Hispanics who work in meatpacking plants. However, Vargas ignored evidence that the virus spread among the illegal alien population and among immigrants from Africa simply because of poor sanitary practices and crowded living conditions, which accelerated the spread of the virus. The meatpackers routinely practiced sanitation and safety measures in plants recommended by OSHA and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for personal protection equipment like masks and informed employees in writing, if a fellow employee tested positive for the virus. His bill would have slowed production lines, reduced capacity, and resulted in fewer cattle processed. Conservative senators worried that adding burdensome new regulations in the plants would further cripple the food supply chain, already backed up, convinced that the packing plant virus spread stemmed from poor hygiene habits. Vargas contemplated a petition drive to hobble meatpackers, after senators killed his bill for the session.
HIS POLITICAL ALLIES. Vargas maintains a close mutual relationship with Planned Parenthood and the leftist One World Community Health Center, where he serves on its board of directors. Another close ally is the leftwing NE Appleseed Center. The NE ACLU honored Vargas with its Defender Award in 2017 for his defense of the downtrodden.
HIS CAUSES. Besides championing illegal aliens, Vargas strongly supports welfare recipients, praising the new, expanded eligibility for food stamps. He vocally encourages the Heartland Pride Day and invites others to join his praise and support for this pervert community. Vargas eagerly participated in the Juneteenth parade, gushing support for this new federal holiday. Vargas notably became inspired by the BLM radicals who burned and looted for weeks in 2020. Also an avid supporter and participant in the annual Mexican Cinco de Mayo South Omaha parade. After Gov. Ricketts snubbed a Biden Regime request and declined to find places to house illegal alien children who crossed our southern border, Vargas excoriated him. Vargas also falsely accused Pres. Trump of inciting violence and undermining democracy by fomenting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in D.C.
HIS LEGISLATIVE RECORD. A keen advocate of equity, diversity, and inclusion, Vargas in the Legislature proudly supports Critical Race Theory, which labels all Whites as racist. Pres. Trump enthusiastically embraced the 287 (g) program that authorized the immigration service to make agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies to allow local law officers to enforce federal immigration law. The Dakota County Sheriff applied for and entered this arrangement. Vargas showed outrage, claiming this arrangement eroded trust between the sheriff and Latino community. He introduced LB 138, which would have required a law enforcement agency that made such agreement to enforce immigration law to notify the governing body of the political subdivision at least 30 days before signing the agreement, so that opponents could protest. The bill gratefully failed. Vargas also sponsored LB 620, to set a limit on the amount of time that violent inmates detained in solitary confinement, to supposedly protect the mental health and dignity of inmates, calling such confinement cruel and unusual punishment. His support for LB 298 would give illegal aliens who pay into state unemployment eligibility for unemployment insurance checks, opposed by Gov. Ricketts and conservative senators. In this session, his LB 960 would eliminate basic skills and content test requirements that require ability to write plainly in English from a requirement for a NE teaching certificate. Latino critics claim that the test discriminates against minorities. The state teacher’s union endorses the bill. Vargas seeks preference for teacher candidates who cannot speak or write English proficiently. His LB 1267 would appropriate $2.5 million from the NE federal pandemic funds to collect health inequity data from the Comm. on Indian Affairs, Comm. on Latino-American Affairs, and Comm. on African-American Affairs.
TAKE ACTION NOW. The Socialist Democrats, radical Hispanics, and other Vargas allies will labor diligently to elect him to Congress in 2022. If successful, he will vote the socialist line in Congress and openly welcome hordes of illegal aliens to enter the U.S. and Nebraska, where they will continue to overwhelm our health and welfare systems, judicial system, and public schools. Law enforcement and incarceration costs will soar. All this a drain on taxpayers. Your voting alternatives are Cong. Don Bacon, who also supports amnesty for DACA individuals, and Steve Kuehl, a new GOP candidate.
Research, documentation, and analysis for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. This material copyrighted by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, with express prior permission granted for its use by other groups in the NE Conservative Coalition Network. 3-22. C