Omaha's Don Bacon Blasts ICE Deportations as Un-Christian, Fights for Local Woman

A five-term Republican congressman from Omaha is publicly breaking with the Trump administration over its deportation practices, calling them inhumane and un-Christian while personally lobbying to stop the removal of a Nebraska woman with no criminal record. U.S. Representative Don Bacon posted his criticism on social media on August 22, arguing that America must be better than the deportations currently being carried out.

Bacon's remarks, first reported by 2paragraphs, center on Mariana Juarez Lorenzo, an Omaha woman scheduled to report for removal from the United States on September 18. According to the same report, Bacon says Mariana has no criminal record and years of ties to the community, and he included a link to an op-ed he wrote for the Omaha World-Herald laying out his objections in detail. Bacon has said that securing the border and deporting dangerous people or those unwilling to work remain wise and popular policies, but he argues Mariana's case falls outside that category entirely.

The legal basis for her removal traces back to an in absentia order issued in October 2018, after she failed to appear for a court date, according to the Department of Homeland Security as reported by Newsweek. Bacon disputes how that order came to be, noting that Mariana was a minor at the time, had been abandoned by her parents, and never personally received notice of the court date, per the same report.

A Direct Appeal to the Cabinet Went Nowhere

Bacon didn't limit his advocacy to public statements. The congressman told the Wahoo Newspaper that he personally appealed Mariana's removal order directly to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on two separate occasions, only to be told in August that no administrative exception would be made. That rejection appears to have pushed Bacon to take his criticism public rather than continue working the issue quietly through cabinet channels.

Bacon is free to make that kind of politically risky move because he announced in June 2025 that he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term rather than seek re-election in 2026, citing a desire to spend time with his family after 30 years in the Air Force and 10 years in the House, according to Ballotpedia. Without a re-election campaign to protect, Bacon faces little immediate political cost for criticizing his own party's immigration enforcement.

A District Built on Split-Ticket Voters

That freedom matters because Bacon represents Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, a genuinely split-ticket electorate centered on Omaha. The district backed Democrat Kamala Harris for president in November 2024 by 51.6% to 47.0% while simultaneously re-electing Bacon with 50.9% of the vote, making it one of only three House districts in the country to back Harris while sending a Republican to Congress, per Ballotpedia. Following Bacon's retirement announcement, nonpartisan election forecasters shifted their ratings for the seat to Lean Democratic or Tilt Democratic for the 2026 midterms, turning the open district into a top national pickup target for House Democrats.

This isn't the first time federal immigration enforcement has stirred controversy in Bacon's district. In June 2025, an ICE raid at local manufacturer Glen Valley Foods prompted Bacon to issue a statement clarifying that the company was fully E-Verify compliant and had been an innocent victim of identity theft, according to a report shared by KETV.

Bacon Cites Polling and Pushes a Bipartisan Bill

Bacon's public defense has leaned on data as much as moral language. He has pointed to a February 2026 NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finding that 65% of Americans felt ICE enforcement had gone too far, up from 54% in June 2025, driven by 93% of Democrats, 71% of independents, and a growing 27% of Republicans. The same poll found that 62% of Americans believed ICE operations were making the country less safe, a sentiment that followed heightened backlash after two federal immigration agents were involved in fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota in February 2026, according to NPR.

As an alternative to mass deportations, Bacon has thrown his support behind the Dignity Act of 2025, introduced by Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas. The bill would pair mandatory nationwide E-Verify and heightened border security with a seven-year Dignity Program allowing long-term undocumented residents to earn legal status by passing criminal background checks, paying taxes, and paying $7,000 in restitution, according to the National Immigration Forum. In May 2026, the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus formally endorsed the bill, arguing it would require no taxpayer funding and could reduce the federal deficit by up to $50 billion, according to information posted on House.gov.

Sharp Pushback From the Right

Bacon's comments drew immediate criticism from Jeremy Carl, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute who focuses on immigration, multiculturalism, and nationalism in America. Carl responded to Bacon by saying, “You can't fix stupid but you can force it to leave congress,” according to 2paragraphs. Bacon fired back that two-thirds of Americans agree with him, and when other critics pushed back, he replied, “You don't read much of the bible.”

Bacon has said critics who insist all immigrants need to go are in the minority, and he has predicted they will lose politically in November. Salazar, the Dignity Act's Republican co-sponsor, has faced her own backlash from within the party; Steve Bannon reportedly called her a traitorous Republican, per the 2paragraphs report. Whether the bipartisan bill can gain traction in a Congress still bitterly divided over immigration remains an open question, one that will likely play out alongside the fight for Bacon's own open seat in the 2026 midterms.