Nebraska Senate race has seen tough talk and shifts on Immigration

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Senate race between frontrunners Sen. Pete Ricketts and Dan Osborn has seen tough talk on immigration throughout the campaign cycle as they both try to win a ruby red state. 

Osborn, the registered nonpartisan candidate, has stated his support for stronger border security as proof of his independent chops during his campaign, but his stance has been muddied after leaked audio clips on the issue — a problem that doesn’t seem to be going away for the former labor leader. Ricketts takes a hardline conservative stance on the border and immigration as one would expect from a Republican in a red state. 

Immigration and its enforcement were big issues during the 2024 presidential election as the Biden administration saw illegal border crossings spike at the end of 2023 but start decreasing in 2024. With Trump’s return to the White House, illegal crossings on the southern border a historic low. But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now the nation’s highest-funded law enforcement agency because of Trump’s tax and spending bill, has faced backlash for its tactics over the past two years, sparking protests across the country, including in Nebraska. 

A Florida Republican House member recently cut a campaign ad saying Trump’s “immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” a sign of the midterm environment Republicans are facing. 

Nebraska, an agricultural state, hasn’t seen many major ICE raids in recent years aside from a raid on Omaha’s Glenn Valley Foods in 2025, but has dealt with misinformation and fear over ICE activity. The Trump administration eased off raids in the agriculture and hospitality industries last year, addressing concerns about the rising cost of food, according to Stateline. 

Both Ricketts and Osborn have criticized the Biden administration’s border policies and praised Trump for securing the border. They both have expressed concerns over the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during Minnesota’s Operation Metro Surge earlier this year and called for an investigation.

Osborn has tried to make the case that neither party is doing enough to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform that’s humane and can fix the problem, “because it’s an economic issue.” 

Osborn, in an interview with the Examiner last year, used the “Big Four meatpackers” as an example of an industry that benefits from having a “wide open border with no immigration policy, because they can exploit the labor, enrich themselves, and then they donate millions of dollars to candidates so they won’t do anything about it.” 

Osborn has called for mandatory E-Verify to confirm that prospective employees can work in the United States. In a press call in June 2025, Ricketts said that while E-Verify is meant to help businesses maintain a legal workforce, it isn’t perfect, according to Brownfield Ag News. 

“It’s challenging sometimes if they’re relying solely on E-Verify,” Ricketts said. “That checking is just that the Social Security number is good generally, and if there’s more ways to get better information, that would be helpful in verifying people’s ability to take employment.”

Nebraska doesn’t mandate E-Verify use, but companies with state contracts must use it. State agencies and local governments must also use it. 

Ricketts has touted Republicans’ success in reducing border crossings during the second Trump administration. During Ricketts’ time as governor, he sent Nebraska State Patrol troopers to the Texas border in 2021. 

The former governor got the endorsement of a union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents. During that press conference, Ricketts said fentanyl seizures and human trafficking cases had increased in Nebraska during the Biden administration.

“Our border is secure. Our immigration laws are being enforced. Nebraska is safer as a result,” Ricketts said in his answer to the Examiner’s voter guide. 

Ricketts also touted his vote for Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that increased the ICE budget as an example of his work to secure the border. Osborn has called the increase in ICE funding “wasteful spending” because the agency has no real accountability. Osborn has criticized ICE for wearing masks and for memes the agency has used to rally the GOP base. 

During the State Fair debate with Ricketts, Osborn said “we should never get used to troops in our streets.” He also emphasized that he supports ICE’s mission of keeping the community safe. 

Some audio leaks of Osborn’s comments on immigration and ICE have clashed with his public statements. In one leak from a private meeting in July with Latino and Black Democrats, he said President Donald Trump’s border wall is “a symbol of racism” that “does nothing.” 

Osborn released a statement after the border wall comment “I am clear that I support strong, effective border security. When I give President Trump full credit for securing the border, some people don’t like that. But because I’m an independent, I don’t have to blindly support the purity tests of either party. I’ll fight for a border wall where it makes sense, and other strategies where it doesn’t, like in Big Bend National Park.” 

CNN reported that Osborn said he had alerted ICE to allegations of undocumented immigrants replacing Kellogg’s striking workers during his time as a labor union leader. His campaign told CNN that Osborn never personally contacted ICE or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but called the local sheriff’s office to ask how to report such allegations. 

In another leaked recording from a 2025 town hall, Osborn says he sees parallels between the current scapegoating of migrants and what happened to German Jews in the 1930s. Another one has him saying that he would be “f—ed” as a candidate if he said that he wanted to “abolish ICE.”  

Osborn pushed back on the leaks, saying some take conversations out of context. The Ricketts campaign and Republicans have used the recordings  as proof in their relentless quest to paint Osborn as a “secret Democrat.” 

Three other candidates are on the ballot for the Senate race: Chuck Conboy, America First Party; Robin Richards, Working People Party; and Mike Marvin, Legal Marijuana NOW, who has suspended his campaign. Their answers are in the Examiner’s voter guide.

The general election is Nov. 3.