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Migrant family’s connection to shelter, jobs spotlights work of ‘Omaha Welcomes the Stranger’ • Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — After fleeing their homeland and traversing six countries by plane, bus, train and on foot, the Cuban family of five still hadn’t found the pay and political freedom they sought.
Nearly a year later, with temporary U.S. permission and court dates ahead, the family crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and headed to Omaha, a place a fellow migrant said had jobs and low rent.
By then the Cubans had at various times been robbed, stranded, hungry and homeless, and they were about $10,000 in debt to friends and relatives.
So when a community activist in March introduced them to the Omaha Welcomes the Stranger organization, the father of the group said he could not believe the turn of circumstances. He was told his family could stay at the organization’s shelter as long as needed.
“At that moment a grand weight lifted off of my shoulders,” said Michael, who was accompanied by his wife, daughter, son and brother-in-law. “We saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
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Now nearly two years since its launch, the Omaha Welcomes the Stranger nonprofit counts the Cubans as among the 110 adult and child migrants it has helped or is currently helping to get established.
Co-founders Tom and Margaret Hoarty say the typical family under OWS wings has crossed the border with temporary U.S. authorization while seeking longer-term asylum protection that can be granted to foreign nationals who fear persecution in their homeland.
Omahans greet bus from U.S. southern border, filled with asylum-seeking migrants
Inspired by work they’d done at a shelter on the Texas-Mexican border, the Omahans maintain ties with El Paso’s Annunciation House, which continues to refer migrants their way.
Though originally formed to provide brief refuge to migrants passing through to other states, the volunteer-run OWS has evolved into a more full-service operation that helps newcomers clear legal, medical and housing hurdles as they try to build lives in Nebraska.
Quietly, and operating without government funds, its board members say they’re buoyed by private donors who value the humanitarian gesture — and the migrant contribution to Nebraska’s workforce demands.
The four adults in Michael’s family, for example, now have temporary work authorization and are employed in maintenance, landscaping, housekeeping and home health care.
They’ve moved on from the OWS shelter site, where nine families currently reside, and are renting a North Omaha home close to Michael and Mari’s 8-year-old daughter’s new school.
Among their first acts was hanging the U.S. flag out front.
We turned the page and life resets. We are not looking back.
– Michael, a Cuban migrant now living in Omaha
Even with an assist from OWS, newcomers face an uphill battle, evident in the cries and posters from Republican campaign rallies to “Send Them Back,” and in recent orders by the Biden administration that slowed the spigot of migrants flowing through the southern border.
Angst and uncertainty are obvious in Michael’s household, even though their authorized entry and Cuban nationality give the family a quicker shot at permanent residency than most other migrants. The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 allows Cuban natives to apply for permanent residence after a year of living in the U.S.
Still, fearing reprisal, Michael and his family agreed to be interviewed only if their full names weren’t used in this article.
Despite headwinds, OWS board members including Juan Carlos Garcia, who also is regional director of Hispanic ministry for the Columban Fathers, said they continue the outreach, which typically extends after families leave the shelter, often with rides, translation and setting up asylum-related appointments.
In the last few weeks, the nonprofit has accepted seven new migrants. About 25 adults and kids currently live in the OWS shelter; 33 others are in rental housing. Another dozen needed help only with travel expenses; and 39 people who came to Omaha on a bus two years ago stayed only briefly.
“We have to go back to the things that make us human,” Garcia said. “Our format has been proven to work. If we want to improve the state’s economy, we need to form similar welcoming organizations.”
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Migrant families that OWS has helped from countries such as Venezuela, Colombia and Sierra Leone typically find employment rather easily once a work permit is in hand, said the Hoartys, who both serve on the board. That authorization process, they said, has ranged from a few weeks to about 10 months.
“We have families who want a safe place to live and work,” Tom Hoarty said. “Nebraska has jobs to fill.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nebraska today has 49,000 job openings, although the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry puts that number at as high as 80,000.
For each vacancy there are a reported 0.6 unemployed Nebraskans, smaller than the national 0.8 ratio.
With Nebraska consistently reporting one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates (fifth lowest currently) and one of the highest labor participation rates (fourth currently), chamber officials have said that anyone who wants to work is likely already working.
Meanwhile, demographic trends don’t bode well for Nebraska solving the worker shortage with homegrown Huskers.
Birth rates have fallen statewide and in the nation. Foreign-born residents have made up an increasing portion of Nebraska’s population growth over the past 20 years.
And according to a 2024 report by the Nebraska chamber’s foundation, more taxpayers have left the state over the past decade than have entered Nebraska.
Research done for the chamber foundation by the North Carolina-based Economic Leadership Research was based on interviews with Nebraskan residents and employers. It urged the state to launch an immigrant recruitment strategy, broadcasting its intent to become “the most welcoming place in America” for foreign-born residents.
“Foreign immigration emerges as a pivotal factor in this equation — offering a viable solution to the demographic and skill imbalance that hinder Nebraska’s economic growth,” the study said.
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OWS is not alone in seeking to pave the way for more migrants to root in Nebraska.
A coalition led by Omaha Together One Community, a religious-based group whose push for social justice stretches back 30 years, has been gaining partner organizations and holding “listening sessions” across the state for more than two years.
The network plans a press conference Wednesday at the State Capitol to announce an action plan. OTOC and OWS, while separate entities, share some supporters.
Early on, the OTOC-led coalition said it wanted to push for immigration reform, increased worker visas and to knock down barriers for migrants already in the U.S. but without permanent status. Those can include asylum seekers as well “Dreamers” (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and populations with Temporary Protected Status because their countries are in conflict or natural disaster.
While those migrants might have temporary authorization to work in the U.S., they’re on shaky ground that could shift with a new presidential administration or other factors.
Nebraska has about 2,450 active DACA recipients, according to the federal government. OTOC said about 2,000 TPS recipients live in Nebraska.
Local and national estimates put the number of undocumented immigrants in Nebraska at between 40,000 and 50,000.
To be sure, not all Nebraskans are on board with bringing out the welcoming wagon.
Nebraska remains the only state where DACA and TPS recipients who are authorized to work here cannot access unemployment insurance, even though their employers pay into the state’s unemployment pool.
Attempts to change that have died in the State Legislature.
Judges deciding the fate of asylum seekers in Nebraska’s immigration court have had among the highest denial rates in the country, according to the widely cited Syracuse University transactional records access clearinghouse, which tracks immigration trends.
In fiscal years 2018 to 2023, TRAC shows that judges at the Omaha-based court denied asylum in 90% of cases, compared to the national average of 61%.
The Omaha-based court tops those in other states for having the longest average wait time for asylum seekers to get their day in court.
Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska’s congressional delegation, meanwhile, have taken hardline approaches to border control.
Within the past two years, Pillen has deployed Nebraska National Guard troops and state troopers to the southern border at a cost of nearly $2.27 million.
As governor, he’s visited the border three times and said Nebraska’s efforts there contribute to reducing the number of people and illegal drugs trafficked across the border.
In a September 2023 column, Pillen said that President Joe Biden had failed to control border crossings and that it was up to states to manage.
“While they may be seeking asylum from a bad situation in their homeland, the fact is many are bringing trouble with them,” he said.
Asked more specifically about OWS, Pillen’s spokesperson Laura Strimple said the governor was “very supportive” of organizations that provide services to those taking steps to enter the U.S. legally.
Nebraska should “cast a wide net” and do more to fill workforce gaps, she said in a statement.
“Immigration is one of those avenues — it is certainly not the only one.”
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In the case of Michael’s family, they crossed the border with the help of a smartphone app created by the federal government to encourage an orderly and secure flow.
The CBP One mobile app, while criticized in a Human Rights Watch report, has become the primary way migrants can request protection in the U.S. since a June executive order by the Biden administration that further restricted access for asylum seekers, said Anna Deal, legal director of the Center for Immigrant & Refugee Advancement, formerly called the Nebraska Immigrant Legal Center.
Michael said he, his wife, daughter, son and brother-in-law scheduled appointments via the app, viewing it as a way to not break the rules and to bolster their plea for permanent residence.
They waited several months in Mexico — earning money in various ways such as washing windows and cleaning houses — until called to appear for processing at the U.S. border port of entry.
There were low points on the way. Michael recalled when their bus was ambushed. Though they paid off the “police,” the Cubans were left stranded in the desert, and slept in a huddle to protect his young daughter from animals and the elements before walking some 30 miles to the next town.
During an interview at his home recently, Michael at times joked and at other moments held back tears. He said he could fill a book describing scary times.
“When I think about it today, we can laugh. It was crazy,” he said. “But at the time … fear and terror.”
Garcia said that most migrants that OWS helps have left their country for fear their lives are in danger. He said one woman counted election votes as a job and her life was threatened. One man was a police officer who said he arrested a government-affiliated drug dealer and became a target.
Michael said he felt “silenced” by his government and in his homeland saw no future or economic opportunity for his family members.
Today, the Cubans are adjusting to their new Omaha neighborhood. A couple nearby brought vegetables over from their garden.
Another neighbor, himself an immigrant who has been settled longer, gave Michael a great deal on a truck that gets him to and from his maintenance job.
Juan, Michael’s brother-in-law, was a nurse in Cuba and is employed at a home health care business serving Spanish-speaking clients.
Son Alberto, at 21, works at a landscaping company where he uses a Google translator app to communicate with co-workers. He hopes to start college courses eventually.
Mari developed a friendship with a neighbor who recruited her for a housekeeping job that revolves around school days for their daughter, Cari.
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OWS advises all migrants they serve that their permanence in the U.S. is not a given, Garcia said, and that their pleas to the U.S. government could be denied.
He urges them to save money, in the event they need to relocate and build a life elsewhere.
The Cubans, meanwhile, are eagerly awaiting their first snowfall.
“We turned the page and life resets,” said Michael. “We are not looking back.”
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