N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, J u n e 30, 2025
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La. changing illegal immigration laws Enforcement bolstered, state benefits end
efits for immigrants living in the country illegally are set to take effect after winning easy passage by the Legislature’s Republican supermajorities and swift signatures from Gov. Jeff Landry. Five bills approved this spring tamp down the state’s ability to provide services to immigrants BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer without legal status, mandate coNew Louisiana laws aimed at operation with U.S. Immigration bolstering federal immigration and Customs Enforcement and enforcement and ending state ben- other federal agencies, and allow
for criminal penalties for government workers and others who interfere with immigration enforcement. Though some Democrats from urban areas questioned the impact of the new rules, Republican state lawmakers faced little friction in passing the new restrictions. And they did so against the backdrop of an intensifying ramp-up of federal immigration detention and deportation, one of President Don-
ald Trump’s campaign promises. Tia Fields, communications and policy advocacy associate for the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants, said the package of Republican legislation mimics national political trends, and it furthers “harmful rhetoric” that is causing national division. She argues the new laws fail to acknowledge immigrants’ humanity and societal and economic contributions.
Fields said that the number of noncitizens applying for state and local benefits is nearly “nonexistent” because they don’t qualify, for the most part. But in cases where parents may not qualify for benefits but their U.S.-born children do, the new laws will deter some from applying out of fear of deportation and could “break families apart,” she said.
ä See LAWS, page 4A
BUILT FOR SPEED
ABOVE: Spectators along the old West End watch the third and final day of the New Orleans Powerboat Grand Prix on Lake Pontchatrain as competitors navigate at times choppy seas. RIGHT: The Montlick Injury Attorneys powerboat, left, extends its lead run Sunday in the Factory Stock race. STAFF PHOTOS By JOHN McCUSKER
‘I have the ultimate authority in town’ Bogalusa accountant takes on city overhaul
Robert ‘Bob’ Neilson was appointed by the state to run the Washington Parish city and fix Bogalusa’s financial problems after Mayor Tyrin Truong was arrested.
BY WILLIE SWETT | Staff writer Across from Bogalusa City Hall on Arkansas Avenue, behind a white picket fence, up three steps and through a side door are the offices of Robert “Bob” Neilson, an accountant who may have more power than Mayor Tyrin Truong or the City Council combined. Since being appointed by the state in February to oversee Bogalusa’s troubled finances, Neilson has rapidly overhauled city government from inside the walls of his accounting firm. He’s spent over $150,000 in contracted emergency sewer repairs. He’s hired staff from the previous mayor’s administration. And he has fired 10 or 12 city employees — he didn’t have the specific number. “I have the ultimate authority in town,” Neilson said, looking up from a white legal pad with notes on all he’s done in the past three months. On the table behind his desk was a framed letter from former President Jimmy Carter to Neilson’s grandparents
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 77 PAGE 6B
Official says this year’s activity is ‘typical’
BY JOSIE ABUGOV | Staff writer
owns. Cars are the only things he really cares about, he said, and not the power or influence that comes with his current position. He has a 1957 Thunderbird once owned by Bruce Springsteen’s drummer and his 1936 Auburn Boattail Speedster is the only pink one ever made.
As the height of summer approaches in Louisiana, residents may see a silver lining to the uncomfortably hot and rainy months: the end of the annual termite swarms. Around New Orleans, some have questioned whether there were fewer swarms this season. City assessments indicate that is not the case — though the long-term trend has been a decline in the number of architecture-devouring pests. Every year, the subterranean Formosan termites flock to outdoor evening lights
ä See BOGALUSA, page 5A
ä See SWARMING, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER — “we knew many, many people in our lives,” Neilson said — and a five-shot pistol he said he keeps with him at all times. An AR-15-style rifle leaned against his office’s fireplace — untouched, he said, until “somebody comes here, creating a problem.” Parked out front was Neilson’s lime green Camaro, one of about 15 cars he
Termite swarming season is winding down
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 322