The Mexican Consulate in Omaha is organizing trips throughout Nebraska and Iowa to meet with local leaders and residents.
During a time of heightened immigration enforcement and fears of detainment, the consulate has been working to meet growing demand for immigration information.
Jorge Ernesto Espejel told Siouxland Public Media on Thursday that, due to international treaties, ICE has to report to them about their activities with detained foreign citizens.
The Mexican Consulate is planning a visit to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, next weekend and Marshalltown, Iowa, next month.
He added, “Not everything that is published with social media is true. They say, ‘I know that ICE is in that place,’ when that's not true. Please, ask an official. We have information and we can help on that.”
Espejel recommended people stay calm and refer to the consulate for official information rather than relying on social media, especially since he said immigration policies and enforcement practices are changing every day. The Consulate receives information from Omaha law enforcement about ICE activity.
Espejel said all Mexican nationals should carry their documentation and avoid speaking with immigration enforcement without an attorney present.
For any Mexican nationals in Nebraska and Iowa in need of emergency assistance, they can call 402-312-5006, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
*Additionally, the president of the nonprofit Feeding America group says the One Big, Beautiful Bill signed by the president this month will cause “serious harm” to working age Iowans.
Feeding America is a national network of 200 food banks and 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs.
Speaking at the Iowa Hunger Summit on Wednesday, Feeding America’s Linda Nageott, called SNAP more than just a benefit.
“ It's an economic stabilizer, not just for the people who receive it, but for the grocers in whose stores those dollars are spent and the communities that are supported by those grocers,” Nageotte said.
*The Iowa Hunger Coalition says the state could have to make up millions of dollars in lost federal funds, if it doesn’t lower its SNAP error rate soon. The current rate is less than one percentage point above the allowed amount.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance by 2034.
Trump and Republican leaders who wrote the law say Medicaid work requirements are needed to prevent fraud and waste and return the program closer to its original intent of covering pregnant women, people with disabilities and children.
Also with that federal funding package, health care cuts are expected to reduce Medicaid enrollment, culling back a critical revenue source for rural hospitals and clinics, including in South Dakota.
The CEO of Horizon Health Care, a major rural medical provider in South Dakota, told South Dakota News Watch that more low-income people who can't afford health care on their own are likely to get sick or even die due to loss of Medicaid coverage.
Horizon CEO Wade Erickson said rural providers that run on thin or even negative margins on some procedures will lose a significant funding source. A fund added to the budget law will provide some relief to rural providers, but experts say it won't cover the full losses.
*In other news, the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter has released a new report that summarizes habitat loss in the state and calls for urgent action to expand corridors that connect wild areas.
Thomas Rosburg, a professor of ecology and botany at Drake University, says Iowa has lost over 90 percent of its wetlands and prairies and around three-quarters of its forests and woodlands in the last 200 years.
“And that’s of course a tremendous conversion from what once was a tremendously diverse and bountiful and productive landscape to again, a now landscape where biodiversity is threatened,” Rosburg said.
He says expanding and improving habitat corridors along streams and rivers could help connect the state’s remaining prairies, wetlands and forests.
Adding more native grasses and wildflowers alongside roadways could also make a difference. Sixty-two counties and 25 cities in Iowa currently do that along roads.
*In other news, the South Dakota Board of Regents this week has implemented a new policy permitting concealed carry at all 10 public universities, which went into effect on July 1.
Under the new law staff and students are allowed to carry concealed handguns, mace, and stun guns on college campuses.
Public colleges can no longer restrict the lawful concealed carry of firearms and weapons on campuses.
The law applies to students 18 and older and staff members who have an enhanced permit, which requires an extra handgun safety course to receive.
The Legislature passed the bill, and Governor Larry Rhoden signed it into law on March 31, making South Dakota the 12th state to allow concealed carry on college campuses, according to South Dakota News Watch.
