This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-small-town-deportations-cant-come-soon-enough-fee9a193 For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Come Soon Enough | Key Points What's This? Seymour, Ind., is experiencing tensions between residents who want to integrate migrants and those who want them deported. Pro-deportation forces are emboldened by President-elect Donald Trump's promises of mass deportations and are pushing for new legislation and action at the state level. Many unauthorized migrants in Seymour are fearful of Trump's return to o ffi ce. SEYMOUR, Ind.—Willard Everhart was incensed. After seeing this small town receive hundreds of migrants in recent years, he heard about a proposal to create an immigrant welcome center that he thought would bring even more. He joined other critics of the plan at a city council meeting in late March that drew hundreds of people, producing a line that snaked down the street. Mayor Matt Nicholson opened the meeting by saying he wanted to clear up misinformation circulating online about the proposal—part of a broader economic- development agenda the city was considering—such as the notion that the center would be a magnet for more unauthorized migrants. The gathering quickly grew raucous, as residents who packed the room unleashed a torrent of criticism and at one point chanted, “Shut it down!” For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 1 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 “I do not support this agenda, not in any way, shape or form,” said Everhart, a 73-year- old retired environmental-affairs director and lifelong Seymour resident, during his turn at the lectern. “We do not need this in Seymour.” Seymour, which is still reeling from the March meeting and its aftermath, is one of many cities across the U.S. feeling the effects of a historic wave of immigration, where residents seeking to integrate migrants are clashing with others calling for them to be rooted out and sent home. Such residents have complained for years that a fl ood of unauthorized migrants under the Biden administration strained schools, hospitals and housing. Now, with President-elect Donald Trump promising to conduct mass deportations and shut down illegal border crossings, the pro-crackdown forces are feeling emboldened. They are organizing opposition to illegal immigration online and in local government meetings and pushing for new legislation and action at the state level. “Trump brought hope,” said Dana Clark, 66, who also spoke at the city council meeting. “Day one is going to see the biggest deportation ever.” Seymour, with a population of about 22,000, is a conservative town an hour’s drive south of Indianapolis, whose surrounding county, Jackson, voted 77% for Trump in the election and has backed Republicans in presidential elections for decades. It is the birthplace of singer John Mellencamp, who sang about his experiences growing up here in his 1985 hit “Small Town.” Incorporated in the 1860s, Seymour sits at the intersection of two major railroads. Jobs are plentiful at large manufacturers such as auto-parts suppliers and agricultural For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 2 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 businesses, including the country’s second-largest egg producer. Jackson County’s unemployment rate was 3.3% in October, compared with 4.4% statewide. Median household income in Seymour was $63,000 and the homeownership rate 57% in 2023, both below statewide averages. The hunger for labor has long drawn immigrants, who began arriving in signi fi cant numbers in the 1990s, mainly from Mexico, Guatemala and other Central American countries. For most of the period since, the fl ow of arrivals was manageable and generated few fl ashpoints, residents say. Seymour’s population was 26% Hispanic in 2020, compared with 5% in 2000 and less than 1% in 1990, according to Census Bureau data. New immigration cases fi led for people in Jackson County—a proxy for migrant arrivals—jumped to 435 in the fi scal year ended in September, from 66 in 2021, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Isabel Ponce, a 52-year-old Mexican immigrant and legal permanent resident, arrived in Seymour 26 years ago and began working at a printing facility. She later started a beauty salon that steadily expanded over the years, and more recently opened a cafe. She said she sympathizes with longtime residents concerned about the burdens of new arrivals, but added that migrants play an essential economic role. “Latino labor is very important here,” Ponce said. “You tell a Latino to work from 8:00 in For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 3 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 the morning until 10:00 at night, they will work it.” Mayor Nicholson, 47, who once was executive director of a literacy agency that helped immigrants learn English, said the city was approached in 2022 by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to participate in a study focused on small towns. The effort, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, among others, was aimed at creating an agenda to boost economic opportunity for disadvantaged groups. It resulted in a 68-page draft, with proposals like developing more housing, that Nicholson said he provided to the city council in September 2023 and posted online. He heard no adverse reaction for months, he said, until some residents got wind of the provision about the welcome center and set off a social-media outcry ahead of the March city council meeting. It proved to be the spark that ignited simmering frustration over illegal immigration. At the meeting, speakers fumed about migrants allegedly failing to assimilate, committing crimes and crowding multiple families into small homes. Republican state Rep. Jim Lucas, who is from Seymour, said a downtown health clinic was overwhelmingly used by immigrants. He said data showed the school system’s English-learner population had soared in recent years—a complaint echoed by some residents who said the newcomers were absorbing teachers’ attention and slowing classroom learning. Nicholson said later that of 21 metrics tracked by the police department, such as disorderly conduct and sex offenses, 17 were down over the past year. Seymour Police Chief Greg O’Brien said the overall crime rate is fl at or down, but tra ffi c-related cases, like driving without a license, are up. The schools superintendent didn’t respond to a For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 4 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 request for comment. Lucas said at the meeting that the city welcomed immigrants who arrive legally and are properly vetted. “However, Seymour has changed drastically in just the past few years, and many of us are obviously concerned about the direction we are headed,” he added. The meeting concluded with council members passing a resolution opposing the economic-development agenda. Tension deepened further. The following day, an immigrant with no driver’s license collided head on in Seymour with the vehicle of James Bradley Castner, 27, who later died. In the aftermath, three residents—Jon Stahl, Mike Wright and Bob Beatty, who is now a council member—pledged to try to channel the anger into action. They created a Facebook page that documents alleged crimes committed by migrants and pushes authorities to respond. It now has more than 4,500 followers. For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 5 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 Wright, 55, a former Marine and Indiana National Guard member, said he felt help was on the way with a new Trump administration. He drafted a bill—“Brad’s Law,” named after Castner—that would make it a felony if people without a driver’s license cause bodily injury and would require prosecutors’ o ffi ces to maintain statistics on noncitizen crime. In recent months, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Trump supporter, has issued civil investigative demands to the Seymour Police Department on whether it had “sanctuary city” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and to a Jackson County entity as part of an investigation into whether organizations are facilitating the in fl ux of unauthorized migrants. Nicholson said, “We are not a sanctuary city,” with no such policies. The mayor ascribed the current con fl ict in part to the political climate in the country and said data don’t support the notion that the city is overwhelmed by migrants. Unauthorized migrants in Seymour seemed largely unaware of local disputes over their presence but are fearful of Trump’s return to o ffi ce. “We are all waiting to see what happens,” said Vicente Gaspar, a 27-year-old Guatemalan who crossed the border illegally six years ago and works at an auto supplier. For Brandon Rodriguez, a 19-year-old college student who was born and raised in Seymour by Mexican immigrant parents, the past year has been painful. He watched a video stream of the March city council meeting and was taken aback by some of the comments, which he said made him feel rejected by certain members of the community he grew up in. For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 6 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 Appeared in the December 21, 2024, print edition as 'In Indiana Town, Many Are Eager for Deportations'. “I can’t believe this is what our town has come to,” Rodriguez told his parents afterward. “It’s kind of heartbreaking.” One recent day at Larrison’s Diner, a popular restaurant downtown, Tim Smallwood, 63, said he was all for mass deportations. He thinks the Trump administration should fi rst target unauthorized migrants with criminal records and then pressure other migrants to “self-deport.” “It’s the only way they’ll solve this problem,” Smallwood said. “You’ve got to make it hard enough on them that they don’t want to come here in the fi rst place.” Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo- fl ores@wsj.com For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 7 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41 For Many People in This Small Town, Deportations Can’t Co... https://www.wsj.com/us-news/for-many-people-in-this-smal... 8 of 8 12/21/24, 13:41