This post originally appeared at https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/steil-van-orden-highlight-crimes-costs-of-migrants-in-wisconsin/

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Republican Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil testified at a House Judiciary Committee meeting last week about the dangers of sanctuary cities and the community challenges illegal immigration has posed across the state, particularly in Whitewater.

Steil has previously pointed to Whitewater as a “case study” of the damaging effects of illegal immigration under the current administration. The influx of roughly 1,000 migrants to the city of 15,000 has led to increasing strain on law enforcement, school resources, and housing capacity in Whitewater, according to reports. Now, the city is witnessing cartel activity, including drug and human trafficking operations, Steil testified, referencing multiple reports.

“We know the danger that that poses in our communities,” Steil said. “And there has been state legislation where we could have had an opportunity to ban sanctuary cities here in the United States, and we’ve not been successful in doing that under Democratic leadership.”

Though Madison is the only city in Wisconsin officially classified as a sanctuary city, Whitewater officials seem uncertain over whether the city is legally able to send away migrants, who have temporary asylum status under the Biden-Harris administration’s “catch and release” policy, where migrants who illegally cross into the country are allowed to wait in the U.S. for their claims to be processed in an immigration court.

The effects of illegal immigration have also affected Wisconsin on a statewide scale, Van Orden testified at the hearing, particularly at prisons in the state.

In particular, Wisconsin’s Federal Correctional Institution Oxford is holding 650 migrants who have committed felonies, more than half of the prison’s housing capacity of 1,200. According to Oxford administrators, the cost of housing a single inmate is $42,000 per year, amounting to $27 million in taxpayer dollars going to holding migrant inmates.

A record 14 million illegal border crossings have occurred under the Biden-Harris administration, with nearly 3 million occurring during the past 2024 fiscal year, the second-highest number in U.S. history.