Illegal aliens slip past officials
GRAND ISLAND (AP)—Lack of
money and not enough workers limit
what federal immigration officials can
do to battle the stream of suspected
illegal immigrants passing through
Nebraska.
In the last month, Immigration and
Naturalization Service workers de
cided not to respond to more than 90
percent of the law enforcement stops
of illegal immigrants in central Ne
braska, The Grand Island Independent
reported. In 27 cases in which INS did
not respond, the drivers and 284 sus
pected illegal immigrants were re
leased.
Jerry Heinaucr, INS district direc
tor in Omaha, told The Independent
that he needed more workers to re
spond when suspected illegal immi
grants were stopped and more money
so they could be deported.
“We need to have the resources that
enable us to do our job,” said Heinauer,
who oversees activities in Nebraska
and Iowa. “We would like to have the
money and the people so that, when
the Nebraska State Patrol makes a stop,
we’re able to respond.”
The INS in Nebraska and Iowa have:
• arrested 463 illegal immigrants
in 1994, of which 276 had criminal
records,
• arrested 704 illegal immigrants
in 1995, of which 372 had criminal
records,
• removed 187 illegal immigrants
from work sites in 1994 and 332 in
1995.
“You can see the increase that we’ve
experienced,” Heinauer said.
The district Heinauer supervises
covers a linear distance of 750 miles
from east to west. That’s approximately
25 percent of the distance across the
United States.
He’s pleased the Nebraska State
Patrol last month adopted a form to
report suspected smuggled illegal im
migrants.
“The State Patrol collecting that
intelligence is very helpful to us,”
Heinauer said. “We’ll have a better
sense of illegal immigrants that arc
being smuggled through Nebraska.”
In formation from fi vc stops the State
Patrol made in March enabled INS
officials in Chicago to arrest the i llcgal
immigrants and return them to Mexico,
Heinauer said.
INS has smuggling units in Denver
and Chicago. The possibility of get
ting a unit or more anti-smuggling
agents closer to Nebraska is being
studied.
“They’re in the process of review
ing smuggling in the central region,”
Heinauer said.
<*.
v*
Priest ignores bishop’s threat
From The Associated Press
The Rev. John McCaslin, an Omaha
priest, has been arrested at least a
dozen times for protesting U.S. nuclear
weapons policy, and he has spent time
in jail.
McCaslin said he wasn’t impressed
when Bishop Fabian Bruskcwitz of
Lincoln threatened to excommunicate
him if he ever again exercised his
priestly duties in the Lincoln Diocese.
“1 wrote him a letter,” McCaslin
said last week. “I said he was a new
bishop and that bishops make mis
takes ... I said he should put this behind
him and get on with his life. I didn’t
hear back.”
His reference was to Bruskcwitz’s
threat last month to excommunicate
members of his flock who do not sever
ties with 12 groups, including Planned
Parenthood, Catholics for a Free
Choice and Call to Action. The dead
line is May 15.
McCaslin raised Bruskcwitz’s ire
by celebrating Mass at an organiza
tional meeting of Call to Action-Nc
braska at Mahoney State Park, which
7 wrote him a letter. I
said he was a new
bishop and that bishops
make mistakes ... 1 said
he should put this
behind him and get on
until his life. I didn 't
hear back. ”
JOHN MCCASLIN
Omaha Catholic priest
is in the Lincoln Diocese.
The group is an affiliate of Call to
Action, a Chicago-based organization
of about 15,000 members that sup
ports the ordination of women and
married Catholic men, the lifting of
the celibacy requirement for priests
and more lay participation in the selec
tion of bishops.
The Lincoln diocesan chancellor,
Timothy Thorburn, wrote to McCaslin
in February on Bruskewitz’s behalf.
He forbade McCaslin from celebrat
ing Mass, hearing confessions or
preaching in the diocese “in perpetu
ity.”
“This communication is also a ca
nonical warning,” Thorburn wrote.
“Any violation of this prohibition will
be punished with a decree of excom
munication.”
McCaslin, who is pastor of Im
maculate Conception and St. Joseph
Catholic churches in Omaha, said he
had been a member of Call to Action
for a long lime and had no plans to
quit.
McCaslin offered a suggestion for
Lincoln Catholics who arc upset about
Bruskewitz’s excommunication edict,
“Join the Archdiocese of Omaha.”
“We ’re not being excommunicated
in Omaha,” he said.
Randy Moody, a Lincoln lobbyist
who is an outspoken pro-choice abor
tion advocate and a local and national
board member of Planned Parenthood,
said hisconscicncc would be his guide.1
Campus walk sheds
light on UNL safety
By Melanie Branded
Senior Editor
As a quiet stillness lingered
throughout the university grounds
early Saturday morning, a group of
people walked along its dark, de
serted paths and streets to survey
safety at UNL.
The Campus Safety Walk, which
takes place in the fall and spring,
allows university officials, faculty
and students to determine what
kinds of problems the campus has
with lightingalong pathways and to
suggest solutions.
About 20 people, including Park
ing Advisory Committee members,
students, ASUN representatives and
university officials, attended the
two-hour walk.
Viann Schroeder, acting assis
tant to the Vice Chancellor for Busi
ness and Finance, said the walks
allowed people to sec how different
the campuses looked at different
times of the year.
“In the fall, you see different
things,” she said. “Treeshave more
foliage.”
Participants traveled on a uni
versity shuttle bus to inspect park
ing lots and other remote areas on
City Campus and East Campus, then
walked through the core areas of
both.
One of the main safety concerns
raised on City Campus was a stretch
of sidewalk around the tennis courts
next to the Area 1/2/20 lot near
Cat her and Pound residence halls.
John Wiechmann, an ASUN
senator, said that although an emer
gency blue phone had been placed
where the sidewalk began, there
was no way students walking to
ward the residence halls could find
help if they were being followed.
Another member of the senate
agreed.
“There’s nothing to head to that
way until you get to the dorms,”
“We have done this a
number of years, so we
have been able to
eliminate more
problems each year. ”
JAY SCHLUCKEBIER
assistant director of
Landscape Services
Amy Ragcr said. “You can’t get in
the dorms. The doors arc locked.
“It’s scary because you can’t al
ways get someone to walk with
you.”
Participants also commented on
how dim the lights looked on vari
ous emergency blue phones on both
campuses.
Jay Schluckcbicr, assistant di
rector of Landscape Services, said
UNL ’s Telecommunication Center
was in charge of the phones.
Poor iighting also was identified
at the north section of the mall on
East Campus and a pathway south
east of the Beadle Center leading to
apartment complexes east of City
Campus.
Other problems that surfaced
were burned-out light bulbs and
shrubs that needed to be cut.
Schluckcbicr said Sunday that
problems found during the spring
walk were pretty minor.
“We have done this a number of
years, so we have been able to cl iuri
nate more problems each year,” lie
said.
Schluckcbicr said it would lake
two to three weeks to replace light
bulbs, but other problems, such as
finding funding for parking lot light
ing, would require more time.
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