The Nebraska Democratic Party is taking criticism from far-right media outlets for including voter-registration forms in welcome baskets for refugees.
Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb posted video of the welcome baskets on Facebook following a meeting of party leaders March 16.
She said the baskets included information on the Democratic Party as well as voter registration forms.
"There's a big misconception that immigrants come to our country as unskilled," Kleeb says in the video. "The reality is there are some deep political leaders that are making Nebraska their own.
"We really want to make sure that folks are embraced by the Nebraska Democratic Party."
The video raised some chatter on online media outlets like the Conservative Review, which called it "eyebrow-raising" in an article Thursday, and among right-leaning social media circles that claimed the party was encouraging voter fraud.
People are also reading…
Noncitizens aren't allowed to vote in most U.S. elections, including those in Nebraska. Refugees must generally wait five years to qualify for citizenship.
"Now people are calling me a traitor and (saying) I should be executed," Kleeb, a mother of three, said Friday.
Kleeb said she is "totally confused why people are up in arms about this."
The registration forms clearly state a person must be a U.S. citizen to register to vote, and there is nothing wrong about welcoming newcomers to become involved in the political process and legally vote once they are allowed to do so.
"From my perspective, this is the far-right yet again thinking that immigrants are immediately doing things illegal," Kleeb said.
Nebraska welcomed the most refugees per capita of any state last year, according to a study by Pew Research Center. But local refugee resettlement agencies are expecting a steep dropoff in the number of new arrivals this summer and fall.
While courts have halted a pair of executive orders by President Donald Trump that would temporarily suspend refugee resettlement across the U.S., the president still controls the overall number of refugees allowed into the country.
Trump has established a limit of 50,000 nationwide for the fiscal year ending in September, less than half the number allowed last year.