SYLACAUGA — Residents and lawmakers in Sylacauga expressed frustration Tuesday night during a town hall meeting where community members gathered to answer questions and provide perspective regarding recent concerns over Haitian immigration in the area.
State Sens. Keith Kelley (R-Anniston) and Lance Bell (R-Pell City) joined State Rep. Ben Robbins (R-Sylacauga) to speak to residents about what they had learned regarding the federal programs that have led to a wave of migration in the state and the country.
Residents began approaching the Sylacauga City Council earlier this month, demanding answers for the influx of specifically Haitian immigrants in the area.
SEE: 'This is our city!' Sylacauga citizens shut down for questioning influx of Haitian migrants
In the coming weeks, the issue drew the attention of state and federal lawmakers. City council members gave few answers to concerned residents, claiming a lack of communication from the federal government. Robbins also expressed that sentiment, swiftly addressing residents' concerns with the minimal information he had received from the feds.
At Tuesday's town hall, lawmakers shared the information they received after visiting the Southern border. However, all expressed extreme frustration, both at the Biden administration's policies that helped facilitate the influx and the continued lack of information regarding the number, location and status of the immigrants already in the state.
The full live-streamed event can be found here.
All the lawmakers acknowledged that there was no way to know under what specific program any individual immigrant had come. However, the operative assumption is that most are here through the Biden administration's Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) Parole Program, initiated in January 2023.
"Last week, me and Keith Kelley traveled to the border in more of an education, fact-finding trip," Bell said. "That's my second trip down to the border. And as I come back now, I still have more questions than I do answers."
According to Bell, 530,000 immigrants have been granted parole in the country since the implementation of the CHNV program.
"That's a scary number," Bell said. "Let's understand what they are. They're not here on a legal status. They're here in a lawful presence. Basically, their status has been deferred by the federal government. They're a protected class. The one thing I think Keith Kelley will tell you the same as me, those two words [are] scary. They're a protected class. What does that mean? That means there's nothing that Sylacauga can do. There's nothing that [the] Talladega County Commission can do. There's nothing that the state of Alabama can do because of what the federal government has allowed to happen."
Kelley echoed Bell's dismal prognostication of the situation at the border and what the Biden administration has allowed to occur with immigration.
A common theme among the three lawmakers was the impression that the immigrants were similar victims in the situation as the American citizens. They all also echoed equal frustration with trying to extract answers from the federal government.
With regards to the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and charities that facilitate the placement of migrants, all three accused them of money laundering and profiteering on the backs of the thousands they claim to help.
Robbins also promised a comprehensive bill package in the upcoming legislative session to address statewide immigration within the restrictions of federal law. The bills, Robbins said, would include methods of monitoring parolees employed in the state and targeting the sponsors, who are supposed to help the immigrants they sponsor with things like employment, housing, healthcare, and other essential services.
"Us as a community, are now tasked with doing the responsibility that these NGOs, these sponsors said they would do, and signed a contract with the federal government to do, and they failed. They didn't just fail. I would say it's money laundering and it's a pyramid scheme. The pyramid scheme is, instead of selling you product, it's selling human beings. All they care about is the number of human beings they get into this country, and they dump them in other places because they make more money off those bodies. And they do not care what happens to those people, and they do not care what community they cause problems in and what chaos they cause."
With community questions, some residents seemed to fundamentally understand the nature of a question-and-answer period, with several giving lengthy soliloquies. Others seemed to struggle to understand the three lawmakers' preamble detailing how state leaders' hands were tied in addressing the immigration problem due to the supremacy of the federal government's programs.
While the evening lacked any notable vitriol toward the immigrants themselves, there was a brief period when some residents expressed anger toward the city council and Mayor Jim Heigl for their perceived lack of attentiveness to citizens' concerns after shutting down the public comment earlier this month. They also expressed anger toward Heigl's seemingly flip-flopping answers when the issue first came to light.
"They could communicate," one resident said. "They could talk to the people that voted them into their positions. We did not have to call Montgomery to come here and have you speak to us when they're capable. We want to talk about Sylacauga. Who better to talk about Sylacauga than our mayor or our council?"
She continued, "The division was caused by them. The rumors were not stopped by them. So that's where the problem lies as far as I'm concerned. I don't care who comes to Sylacauga. If you want a job to work, come to Sylacauga and work. But don't lie to us, shut us down, say that the governor approved for them to be here. Tell us the truth. Be transparent about it."
By the end of the evening, a spirit of dissatisfaction seemed to rest over the room since the general tenor of the three lawmakers' analysis was a complete hamstringing of state lawmakers to go against the federal government's mandates. However, after a closing prayer, the group dispersed, and many approached the city and state leaders to address the issue more.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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