By Chris Spangler and Kim McDarison 

During its Thursday regularly scheduled meeting, members of the Fort Atkinson City Council were addressed, during the public comments period, by a resident who shared his concerns brought by a letter written recently and shared in the media to President Joe Biden by Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer.

Whitewater and Fort Atkinson are cities of similar size situated some nine miles apart. 

Fort Atkinson resident John Donohue read portions of a letter that the Whitewater Common Council on Dec. 19 approved to be sent to several state and federal elected officials, including Biden, regarding the “challenges” that immigration has placed on law enforcement and city resources as a whole.

A copy of the letter, which was then awaiting signatures from Meyer, Whitewater City Manager John Weidl and common council members, was shared, following our request, with WhitewaterWise on Dec. 28. The full letter is here: http://whitewaterwise.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Letter-to-President-Biden.pdf. 

WhitewaterWise published a story about the letter, including its full contents on Jan. 1. Our earlier story is here: https://whitewaterwise.com/council-approves-letter-to-president-joe-biden-describing-immigration-related-challenges-facing-local-law-enforcement/. 

Since our publication of the story and the document, myriad local, statewide and national media, and other sites, have published stories about the letter, with TV station WKOW releasing a summary of the letter on Jan. 2.   

The letter states that since 2022, the city has seen a rapid increase in the arrival of immigrants from Nicaragua and Venezuela.

“We estimate that there are roughly 800 to 1,000 individuals who have arrived here (in Whitewater) in that short time. Each individual has a different reason for coming here: some are fleeing a corrupt government, others are simply looking for a better opportunity to prosper. Regardless of the individual situations these people need resources like anyone else, and their arrival has put great strain on our existing resources,” the letter reads.

It states that communication, transportation, housing and documentation/identification concerns are among the top obstacles the city is facing and must address.

The letter asks the elected officials for support in the form of direct funding or the ability to apply for a community grant to address these concerns.

“This is a crucial humanitarian issue, and our city needs government assistance in order to continue to serve our entire community properly,” the letter concludes.

Donohue, on Thursday, told the Fort Atkinson City Council that he believed Fort Atkinson could face similar problems.

“It may be noted that as a candidate for this city council a year ago, I raised a concern with city staff that it was not a question of if, but a question of when we would experience the various logistical and law enforcement challenges of a sudden shift in our city’s demographics similar to Whitewater and other communities,” Donohue told the Fort Atkinson council.

“It remains, as before, a matter of when — and, of course, how — we are to address the challenges of a sudden demographic shift in our city,” he added.

Donohue warned that the city’s law enforcement, healthcare and first-responder infrastructures will be tested, and pointed out that the city already is experiencing a housing shortfall.

“It would be incumbent on city staff, elected officials, to make clear to our public how the demographic shift will be managed when it occurs,” he said, urging that the discussion start now.