You might remember at the start of the pandemic meat plant workers were among the most adversely affected by COVID-19, with many deaths recorded. Nebraska has the largest meatpacking industry in the country, yet to hear their Republican Governor none of those workers are undocumented. That's just a lie and he knows it's a lie. Instead of putting public safety and common sense first though, he's just playing dummy politics by saying no one undocumented will be eligible for the vaccine.

Insane.

Source: Daily Mail

Undocumented immigrants in Nebraska will not be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, Governor Pete Ricketts announced Monday.

Ricketts, the son of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, was asked at a press conference if undocumented persons would be included when vaccines become available to meatpacking plant workers.

'Illegal immigrants are not permitted to work in those facilities, so I don't think that will be a problem,' the governor replied without further explanation.

In reality the issue is much more complicated, as undocumented workers make up a large section of Nebraska's meatpacking industry - which is the largest in the US with roughly 26,600 workers in total.

According to recent data from the Migration Policy Institute, some 66 percent of the state's meatpacking workers are immigrants, and varying estimates suggest that anywhere between 14 percent to almost all of them are undocumented.

Throughout the pandemic meatpacking plants have served as major hotspots for virus transmission, as workers spend hours standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and crowd into locker rooms to change their clothes before and after shifts.

Many people were not impressed, including AOC.

Imagine being so racist that you go out of your way to ensure that the people who prepare *your* food are unvaccinated. https://t.co/QtWoJ6XG72

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 5, 2021