Nickerson, Nebraska says no to plant
Nickerson, Nebraska residents said they didn't want a chicken processing plant and the company decided to locate elsewhere.
The question of who would work the tough jobs was at the forefront of the debate, though many were adamant they aren't anti-immigrant. Opposition leader Randy Ruppert even announced: "This is not about race. This is not about religion."
But both were raised at the raucous April 4 meeting where the local board rejected the plant. One speaker said he'd toured a chicken processing plant elsewhere and felt nervous because most of the workers were minorities.
More overtly, John Wiegert, from nearby Fremont where two meat processors employ many immigrants, questioned whether Nickerson's plant would attract legal immigrants from Somalia — more than 1,000 of whom have moved to other Nebraska cities for similar jobs, along with people from Mexico, Central America and Southeast Asia.
"Being a Christian, I don't want Somalis in here," Wiegert, who has led efforts to deny rental housing to immigrants in the country illegally, told the crowd. "They're of Muslim descent. I'm worried about the type of people this is going to attract."
Ugh. I think I'd rather have the type of people the Somalis would attract then guys like this.
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