President Joe Biden’s open border policies have caused cities and towns across the country to become overrun with illegal aliens. At one point, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in an interview that illegal immigrants should be sent throughout the country because the Big Apple could not handle the influx, which Townhall covered.
One small midwestern city, nestled between two Republican counties, is experiencing the border crisis firsthand.
The city of Whitewater, Wisconsin has seen a steady flow of illegal immigrants since 2021 when Biden assumed office. Now, the town of 15,000 people now has 1,000 new “neighbors” who came to the U.S. from Nicaragua and Venezuela through the southern border.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Whitewater’s population has grown by almost 10 percent in two years because of illegal immigration. In New York City, the population has grown by 2 percent.
Jeffrey Knight, the Greater Whitewater Committee president, told the outlet that the city’s resources are running out to take care of the illegal immigrants (via WFB):
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Like Knight, all Whitewater residents who spoke to the Free Beacon prided themselves on their hospitality and did not express prejudice toward the town's growing foreign population. But those who live here say they feel the strain migration has placed on their town: schools rushing to hire English as a second language (ESL) teachers, emergency services overwhelmed with unintelligible calls reporting domestic violence, and health providers faced with a flurry of uninsured patients.
Responding to the influx of migrants has put the town in a $400,000 budget hole, a town official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Free Beacon.
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No one knows what brought the migrants to Whitewater. It is not a sanctuary city, and no red-state governor is shipping busloads of migrants to Whitewater's doorstep. That Wisconsin is one of a handful of states that will likely decide the next president is just happenstance.
Some residents think the migrants were attracted by the progressive city council's pro-immigrant rhetoric. Others think the sleepy midwestern town is just a good place for illegal migrants to hide.
"I haven't seen anyone who isn't welcoming, but you have to have blinders on to not see that there have been problems," Michael Smith, a Whitewater resident, told the outlet. "Everything is relatively overwhelmed right now."
The town’s police force is strained due to the illegal immigrants. In March, police responded to a “deceased infant…located in a cardboard box.” Another instance described a woman living inside a shed with her baby during the winter.
Not to mention, nearby counties have reportedly shared concerns that there is cartel activity in Whitewater.
"It is a simple fact that we are not currently providing the Whitewater community with the degree of service that our residents are accustomed to," Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer reportedly told local media in January. "That needs to change for the sake of both long-time residents, as well as individuals who have recently moved here from Central America."
Republican Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil added, “The challenges that Whitewater is facing are ones communities around the country are facing. We can't just address the symptoms, we have to solve it by securing our border."
