{"id":11353,"date":"2024-06-26T05:03:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T05:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11353"},"modified":"2024-06-26T06:04:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T06:04:29","slug":"gangs-crime-and-terrible-living-conditions-included-in-new-look-into-wisconsin-citys-immigration-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11353","title":{"rendered":"Gangs, Crime, and Terrible Living Conditions Included in New Look into Wisconsin City\u2019s Immigration Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/world\/gangs-crime-and-terrible-living-conditions-included-in-new-look-into-wisconsin-citys-immigration-problems\/tcsquare\/2024\/06\/26\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
by Benjamin Yount<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new report says Whitewater\u2019s immigration problems did not end when the city\u2019s police chief sent a letter to the White House late last year.<\/p>\n

The Institute for Reforming Government on Monday released a report that uses 4,000 open records requests to paint a picture of the continued problems that a flood of illegal immigrants has caused in Whitewater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has struggled to deal with the increasing strain on law enforcement resources, housing overcapacity, and the challenges associated with educating children with no formal background in schooling and often lacking basic English skills,\u201d the report states in its opening.<\/p>\n

IRG combed through emails, letters, body camera footage and internal city of Whitewater reports to get a sense of just how an influx of about 1,000 people from Nicaragua has impacted what was a sleepy college town of about 15,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike \u2018sanctuary cities,\u2019 it does not appear the city of Whitewater sought the immigrants,\u201d the report adds. \u201cInstead, the city\u2019s \u2018theory\u2019 explaining the sudden influx revolves around a complex web of ample student housing following COVID, a need for farm and manufacturing labor, and the congregation of sponsor families in and around the city that were then identified by migrants at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

IRG Director of Oversight Jacob Curtis says Whitewater is just one example of what President Biden\u2019s immigration policies are doing to towns and cities across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of a completely broken federal immigration system, local units of government like the city of Whitewater are now being forced to manage a crisis that impacts almost every facet of government operations,\u201d Curtis said.<\/p>\n

The report details at least one known MS13 gang member who was living in Whitewater.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s police chief wrote to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seeking guidance for what to do with the gang member, as well as others who have court dates in Chicago and less-than-clear immigration status.<\/p>\n

The IRG report also notes that immediately after the letter from Sen. police chief Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin, and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin followed up with the White House. There were also meetings with Gov. Tony Evers\u2019 office, but Whitewater pushed to keep those meetings quiet to \u201cavoid the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

IRG\u2019s report says Whitewater continues to deal with many of the problems laid out in the police chief\u2019s letter in December. And, the report says, there doesn\u2019t appear to be an end in sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, many of the communications, particularly those from the police chief, make clear the city has attempted to balance maintaining an objective posture on a highly charged public policy debate while recognizing the clear impact the influx of immigrants is having on the city\u2019s ability to protect its residents, ensure a quality public education for the city\u2019s school children, and maintain fiscal solvency,\u201d the report\u2019s conclusion states. \u201cUnless and until the federal government repairs the nation\u2019s utterly broken immigration infrastructure, local units of government like those in Whitewater, Wisconsin will be left to respond to the federal government\u2019s continued failures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

Benjamin Yount is a correspondent for The Center Square.
\nPhoto \u201cTammy Baldwin\u201d by United States Senate<\/a>. Photo \u201cBryan Steil\u201d by US House of\u00a0<\/a><\/em>Representatives<\/a>. Background Photo \u201cWhitewater, Wisconsin\u201d by Own Work<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Gangs, Crime, and Terrible Living Conditions Included in New Look into Wisconsin City\u2019s Immigration Problems<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/world\/gangs-crime-and-terrible-living-conditions-included-in-new-look-into-wisconsin-citys-immigration-problems\/tcsquare\/2024\/06\/26\/ by Benjamin Yount \u00a0 A new report says Whitewater\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11354,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11353\/revisions\/11354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}