FULLERTON — Don’t trust everything you read online.
Nance County official want to make it clear that Nance County is not a sanctuary county when it comes to people entering the United States illegally. The Nance County Supervisors passed a resolution reaffirming that fact at their Sept. 24 meeting. The full resolution is printed on page 10 in this week’s newspaper.
Board of Supervisor President Tim Cornwell said that Nance County had erroneously been listed as a sanctuary county by the Center for Immigration Studies website.
“I don’t know where they got that information from or what criteria they used,” he said. “Don’t believe everything you read online.”
Cornwell said the board of supervisors want to take action to set the record straight.
“It was causing a lot of conversations in the public,” he said. “We did this to calm the public. We never were a sanctuary county.”
Nance County Sheriff Ben Bakewell confirmed his office cooperates with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “The only thing I would not cooperate with is something that goes against the constitution,” Bakewell said.
Attempts to reach a spokesperson with the Center for Immigration Studies were unsuccessful.
Nance County officials are working to have their name removed from the Center for Immigration Studies website.
The list of Nebraska counties on the list in addition to Nance County includes: Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Douglas, Gosper, Grant, Greeley, Hayes, Hooker, Howard, Johnson, Logan, Loup, McPherson, Perkins, Platte, Sioux, Thomas and Wheeler counties. It is not known whether any of those Nebraska counties are erroneously listed on the website.
“I was surprised we were even on (the website),” Bakewell said.
The site sources Immigration and Customs Enforcement data as where they get their information.
The Center for Immigration Studies describes itself on its website as an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation’s only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.