Omaha Press Club’s most recent Noon Forum featured a congressional debate between Democrat Brad Ashford and Republican Don Bacon.
The two will face off on Election Day for the second congressional district seat.
Congressman Ashford is seeking his second term in the office. Don Bacon retired from the Air Force as a Brigadier General after 30 years.
He’s currently an Assistant Professor at Bellevue University. The debate was sponsored by the Press Club and the League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha.
One of the questions they were asked was how they will address the immigration issue, both those coming in, like refugees, and undocumented migrants who are already here.
Bacon said he looks at immigration in a couple different ways: the 300,000 to 400,000 coming in undocumented each year as well as the roughly 12 million who are mainly here to make a living.
"We have to stop the 300,000-400,000. We will do that through employer enforcement and increased security on the border. You can stop with a wall folks coming through if jobs and employers aren’t held accountable. Once you do that, I believe we can have a compassionate way ahead for the 12 million who are here. Some are serving in our military, some are taking care of their families. I believe in a pathway for legalization but not citizenship in those cases.”
Ashford said he continues to support enhanced enforcement on the border.
"It is in my view, patently unfair, to say to a DREAM who came here at 1 or 2 years of age, without any choice, to deny that person who has lived here with their parents, who has gone to school and wants to work, to deny that person citizenship. I believe of the 11 million that have come here. I think it’s critical we give those individuals a pathway to citizenship to say there’s no choice.”
The Omaha Press Club’s Noon Forum airs in its entirety on Friday, November 4th at Noon.