When the federal government intentionally abandons its duty to protect national sovereignty, the consequences rarely affect the people who made that decision. As the saying goes, radioactive fallout rolls down hill. President Joe Biden will never feel burdened by local school districts or police departments, putting himself between his security and the beaches of Delaware. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas probably won’t have to cancel regular squash games just because courts have become temporary housing.
Meanwhile, states, counties, and local governments are scrambling to house, feed, and provide services to undocumented immigrants in numbers never dreamed of before. New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) publicly complained about the strain on services and quality of life that flooding is putting on the nation’s largest city. Consider the havoc these policies are wreaking on small towns of a few thousand people. The human wave is not only overwhelming local resources, but also changing the structure of communities. Why can’t we do that?
Forgotten in the media frenzy over President Trump’s “cats and dogs” comment is that Springfield, Ohio, which had a population of 60,000 in 2020, has since grown from 15,000 to 20,000. This means that the country is accepting Haitian immigrants. Even in the best of circumstances, a one-third increase in a municipality’s population over five years puts a strain on the community. Cities are not anticipating or budgeting for the influx of thousands of foreign immigrants. Schools, hospitals, emergency agencies, and government agencies are all funded and operated according to normal population size, but they are blind. Agencies must hire translators. The form must be printed in the new language.
And as a simple matter of public order and safety, a wave of unvetted illegal immigration can throw previously close-knit communities into chaos. (Or maybe it was “scrutinized but ignored”: ICE just released surprising information The number and crimes of thousands of illegal aliens are known).
Special interests and politicians denigrate small-town Americans as heartless, xenophobic bigots who rebel against those who impose a human deluge. But these citizens are expected to sit back and pay even more local taxes to ease their own fears, while the government benefits illegal immigrants. As soon as they enter the country, they become eligible for benefits such as TANF, SSI, and Medical Assistance. A very fortunate land of “sanctuary cities” that do not report their status to federal authorities. They are widely treated with respect and, for better or worse, American employers welcome them.
America is the country of legal Immigrants and Americans are some of the most generous and welcoming people. Illegal immigrants shouldn’t be here, and if they are, they shouldn’t be treated at the expense of citizens or legal immigrants. Citizens expect their voices and lives to matter to the laws they fund and obey. And unlike political and media elites, they believe in American sovereignty.
They are beginning to realize that it doesn’t have to be that way. Americans, the working people who pay a living wage, are fighting back. These stories are not heard much in the media, but they may be the harbingers of America’s rebirth.
in Saugus, Massachusettsthe school district recently proposed a policy that would require all students attending the town’s public schools to be “lawful residents whose actual place of residence is in Saugus” and require families relocating to the town to register their children. It is mandatory to fill out the town census beforehand.
residents of Greene Township, Pennsylvaniais exposing and fighting a plan to turn an abandoned Civil War-era school into a haven for hundreds of immigrant families. Center to Advance Security in America FOIA request to DHS Records and communications related to this plan.
At the city council meeting in September Sylacauga, Alabamathe council president ended public comment early as residents were outraged by the arrival of illegal immigrants. One galley woman even shouted to Congress, “This is our city.” Local politicians have pledged help and are appealing to Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to develop the town (a likely futile effort).
It doesn’t end in small towns. in chicagometersResidents of poor black neighborhoods ignored by city government for decades watch as the city provides housing, food, and education to immigrants. Local residents began attending city council meetings to voice their opposition to elected leaders.
While small towns are America’s strength, fragile ecosystems are ill-equipped to resist the kind of direct attacks Washington is making. If this continues, small towns will eventually disappear. But Americans have a choice. We can stand up and remind politicians and the media that we are still here, we still matter, and we still oppose. The end of small town America, and America as a whole, is not inevitable.
James Fitzpatrick is director of the Center for the Advancement of American Security and a former member of the Trump administration.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
