Here & Now

Migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela Make a Home in Whitewater

Frederica Freyberg:
In other news, Whitewater made national headlines last month after a Breitbart news story claimed a thousand migrants had been dropped on the city. But officials say the truth of the matter is much more complicated. “Here & Now” reporter Nathan Denzin has more.

Dan Meyer:
Our case here in Whitewater is very unique.

Brienne Brown:
I started noticing the wave of migrants probably — it was during the pandemic.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
Why immigrants immigrate to a place is because as humans, we are looking for a better life.

Nathan Denzin:
Whitewater has seen a wave of migration from the southern border with Mexico over the past two years, but this case is not like recent headlines where immigrants are being chartered to northern communities like Chicago.

Dan Meyer:
I’ve had a lot of people ask, “Okay, where are the buses dropping people off?” That’s not happening here.

Brienne Brown:
It was, like, 50 at first and then it was like another 50 and so it wasn’t like a massive rush.

Nathan Denzin:
But now city officials suspect that there are about 800 to 1,000 migrants from Nicaragua and Venezuela in Whitewater. And Whitewater is not a large city. The 2020 census indicated that about 15,000 people live there. Nearly 8,000 to 10,000 of those are students at the university.

Dan Meyer:
The earliest we really noticed it was, I would say, early 2022.

Nathan Denzin:
Dan Meyer is the chief of police for the city of Whitewater.

Dan Meyer:
We had a family that was found in a 10×10 shed and that was during the wintertime, so January of ’22, so very cold temperatures.

Nathan Denzin:
He says that before they got to Wisconsin, many of the migrants likely had contact with border patrol.

Dan Meyer:
The way the border policies work currently is that when someone crosses, customs identifies them and asks them if there is a sponsor family that they know of that can take them in. So if somebody is able to identify that sponsor family and they can confirm that, they’re essentially provided transportation to that sponsor family.

Nathan Denzin:
When they enter the U.S., they’re technically in deportation proceedings, but with a sponsor family, they’re released until their first court date. That court date is usually several years in the future due to a huge backlog of cases. They can then sponsor other families that they know. The result is a pyramid effect where many families from a small area in Central and South America have come to Whitewater.

Brienne Brown:
Because they’re trying to get out of really unsafe situations and there’s work to be had. There’s spice factories. There are egg factories. There are sod farms. There are chicken farms.

Nathan Denzin:
Brienne Brown is a member of the Whitewater Common Council. Nicaragua and Venezuela are both in violent, political upheaval, driving people out of those countries and into America.

Brienne Brown:
What they were most concerned about was if they walk down the street, they had to have a stack of cash in their pockets because they were always having to pay somebody off to stay safe.

Nathan Denzin:
Upon arriving in Whitewater, their legal limbo makes life extremely difficult.

Brienne Brown:
And most of them are really concerned about the fact that they’re not allowed to work.

Nathan Denzin:
Brown has talked to many migrants who are not allowed to work for the first 100 days that they are in America.

Brienne Brown:
There are a lot of people who are following the rules and only one person is working and everybody else is not.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
We are going to work to make money and to help our families.

Nathan Denzin:
Jorge Islas-Martinez is an immigrant advocate and a first-generation immigrant from Mexico. He has lived in Whitewater for nearly 30 years.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
I like to promote education. I like to help others learn how to speak English.

Nathan Denzin:
He says migrants face numerous challenges when they first get to Wisconsin: getting a job, speaking a new language, and having transportation is all top of mind.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
I know how it feels to be in this country not knowing the language. It is hard. Every single human has a right to succeed. Whatever you are, you have that right.

Nathan Denzin:
But finding a job in rural Wisconsin requires a car, and in Wisconsin, undocumented migrants are not allowed to earn a driver’s license.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
We don’t have public transportation. The only transportation that we have is the taxi. The taxi only is available here in Whitewater from 7:30 in the morning until 5:00.

Dan Meyer:
I see it as a huge safety issue. I mean, we’re — if we’re having people especially driving in snow for the first time, that is not a good situation.

Brienne Brown:
It’s safer for people to have driver’s licenses. They have to take drivers classes. They have to take a test to make sure they can drive. They have to have insurance.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
I drove a taxi for a lot of years, but to be honest with you, I learned how to drive once I came here to the United States. I learned what the yellow line means. I learned what the white line means. I know what the broken line means. I learned how I can pass a car. I did not know that in my country.

Dan Meyer:
If somebody is able to come here and take all of the testing, the written test, physically do the driving test so that they are safer as a driver, I’m all for that.

Nathan Denzin:
Nearly 20 states already allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license, including Illinois.

Brienne Brown:
I think that it’s something that they really need to look harder at in our Legislature, is just giving those rights back so that everybody is safer.

Nathan Denzin:
Along with drivers’ licenses, city officials say more needs to be done to help Whitewater’s newest immigrant population.

Jorge Islas-Martinez:
I think we have to learn how to help each other. I think we have to learn that we are humans. We are immigrants but we have feelings.

Nathan Denzin:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Nathan Denzin in Whitewater.