It's not New York, where hundreds of recent migrants are sleeping on the street or Texas where border barriers, including barb wire, are making noise.

But if you think Nebraska doesn't have immigration problems, one of the state's premier conservative voices says the state's job crunch has immigration here front and center.

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Joe Jordan, NCN: “Look around the state and you see help wanted signs: Omaha, Lincoln, go out West. The unemployment in the state is low, historically low but the workforce is historically challenged. Would a more aggressive immigration policy benefit the state and it would that be a good idea or a bad idea?”

Jim Vokal, Platte Institute: “We have 80,000 jobs open right now in the state of Nebraska and the state follows the lead from federal policy; I don't know necessarily what changes need to be made on a federal level but I think there is some interest across the state with business leaders as I travel that if there's a way to get some folks that are already here in the state and translate that into people working in Nebraska and fill jobs, I think people will have an interest in looking at what those policy solutions are.”

In 2018 there were nearly 139,000 immigrants in Nebraska 93,000 are in the workforce.

Jordan: “Is there a belief that there are people in the state who emigrated from another country that don't want to work or they're afraid to work?”

Vokal: “I don't know if that's the case or not I just know that there are people that do want to work that come from other countries.”

Four percent of Nebraska's immigrants are from Vietnam, 4% from Myanmar, 5% from India, 7% from Guatemala, 34% from Mexico.

Vokal: “And most of this probably is on the federal side from a policy standpoint but if there are available policy options from a state standpoint, I think that there's a general consensus across the state that we need to look at some of the ways to find gainful employment for these individuals.”

Jordan: “Any thoughts on what specifically those might be?”

Vokal: “I don't know yet. If you look at Sen. Tom Brewer's bill as an example that dealt with the Ukrainian refugees who were here by federal law legally…”

CNN Report: “Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than 3 million people have fled the country to escape the violence.”

Vokal: “…They need a driver’s license to get to work, to have a job. And the current state law did not provide them with that opportunity. So, the bill this year that we supported was an example of state policy that would be an example of what you're talking about.

It's also estimated that there are nearly 60,000 undocumented immigrants in Nebraska.

Jordan: “The Platte Institute by nature is a conservative think tank. Oftentimes when conservatives hear the word immigration red flags go up in terms of ‘illegal,’ ‘criminal,’ etc. Are you walking a fine line here?’

Vokal: Well, I think there's a clear distinction between border security, illegal immigration, and on contrast finding ways to tie into the workforce challenges that we have. And we're not talking about supporting amnesty or chain migration or anything that deals with securing the border. We’re looking at what policies potentially on a state level might exist to help put these folks to work.