The city of Whitewater, Wisconsin, has reached out to President Joe Biden for assistance due to the challenges associated with an influx of immigrants, many of whom are undocumented.
The community is facing issues such as communication barriers, an increase in unlicensed drivers, strained law enforcement resources, and a lack of trust between the immigrant population and authorities.
The letter emphasized that the city needs additional resources, particularly in the police department, and an immigrant liaison to address the situation. (Trending: U.S. State Passes Personal Pronoun Ban)
Police Chief Daniel Meyer said, “I’ll be the first to say that that’s our best guess. And that’s a very difficult number to get accurate, because we’re talking about at least a portion of the population that’s undocumented.”
Police Chief Daniel Meyer and City Manager John Weidl wrote, “Communicating with an immigrant population that generally speaks only Spanish has been a challenge we’ve worked to overcome by the use of costly translation software.”
“We have found approximately three times the number of unlicensed drivers on our roadways compared to previous years,” their letter continued.
“Our department averaged 2,437 self-initiated traffic stops annually from 2010-2021. In 2022, that number was reduced to 1,719, and in 2023, we are on pace for 1,246. That is an incredible statistic that shows how our staff is struggling to address the workload,” wrote the officials.
Meyer and Weidl claim immigration policies have created “a significant trust barrier between the immigrant population and law enforcement.”
“In many cases this has led to individuals providing false documents and misleading our staff, which further increases our time involved in investigating cases. Finally, our law enforcement staff have responded to a number of serious crimes linked to immigrants in some manner including the death of an infant child, multiple sexual assaults, and a kidnapping,” wrote the city officials.
“Our officers have also seen first-hand the terrible living conditions that many migrants are living in. We’ve seen a family living in a 10’x10’ shed in -10-degree temperatures. We’ve seen many over-occupied apartments that create non-familial living situations, which unfortunately has led to a number of situations involving juvenile victims of sexual assault,” they continued.
“None of this information is shared as a means of denigrating or vilifying this group of people…We are in dire need of additional resources. We need additional staffing, specifically in the police department, but also in the form of an immigrant liaison,” explained Meyer and Weidl.
The Chief and City Manager wrote, “This is a critical humanitarian issue, and our City needs government assistance in order to continue to serve our entire community properly.”
Meyer said, “This letter was not written to give people political ammunition. This letter was written to describe the situation that we’re facing here in Whitewater, and to attempt to secure resources to address it.”
Weidl added, “The central theme of the letter is that everybody in Whitewater deserves the basic services that the city provides to everyone, whether that be clean water, police and fire, parks and recreation, library books. Everyone deserves that.”
The city officials stress that their goal is to secure resources to address the impact of demographic change and to serve the entire community properly.
The letter’s intent is not political but aimed at describing the situation and acquiring necessary resources.
The strain illegal aliens are placing on a small Wisconsin town thanks to the failures of the Biden administration isn't right-wing propaganda. https://t.co/97T8r82O78
— Brian Sikma 🦬 🇺🇸 (@briansikma) January 3, 2024
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