Numerous residents of north Alabama have reported seeing busloads of apparent Haitian migrants being picked up and later dropped off at odd hours around the region. No official notice has been given regarding an influx of migrants into the area, but, when asked, an ICE spokesman admitted than an unknown number of new migrants had received federal work permits.
Local authorities seem to have been left in the dark regarding the migrants. The police department of Albertville (pop 22,386) posted this on its Facebook page yesterday:
We’ve been notified about charter buses dropping off and picking people up throughout town. We have contacted the bus company in question and they advised us that they have been contracted by a local company to transport workers to and from work.
Albertville is the home of several poultry-processing plants — an industry notorious for hiring migrants, both legal and otherwise. They might account for the “to and from work” cited, but passengers boarding and leaving the buses have often been seen carrying luggage and other personal items, not usually items taken to one’s workplace.
Other authorities — such as Albertville Mayor Tracy Honea, State Rep. Brock Colvin (R-Albertville), and Matt Brannon, a city councilman at nearby Boaz — have said they are investigating the matter but have little information so far.
Meanwhile, an Athens TV station contacted one Unique Dunston, an Albertville woman who says she and her organization “Reclaiming Our Time” have been assisting the migrants with free groceries and other supplies. She said:
I’m excited for any chance to meet new people, to learn new things, to be immersed with different cultures. I think it’s the most beautiful thing about America.
Ms. Dunston may be in a minority on that. Other residents have expressed concerns about crime, job availability, and the possible spreading of disease among school children. Another concern expressed by many is that multiple migrant families are said to be pooling their resources to rent single-family homes, in apparent violation of local housing ordinances.
A spokesnman for US Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) says the problem lies with the Biden-Harris administration:
While most of the Haitian migrants are here legally, it doesn’t make what is happening right. The Biden-Harris Administration knows full well that communities like Albertville, Russellville and Kilpatrick have been overwhelmed with illegal migrants. And while these new migrants coming in might be here legally, it is making a bad situation worse by putting an even bigger strain on local resources, like law enforcement and the school systems. President Biden and his border czar Kamala Harris have, at every turn, done everything they can to make this migrant crisis worse and have zero concern about the communities it impacts.
State Rep. Colvin agrees. Saying he has seen concern about immigration in Albertville “skyrocket” just over the past week, he added:
They’re [Haitians] considered refugees, so they get social security income, they get Medicaid coverage, they get food stamps and WIC. We’re going to do all we can on the state and local level to see how to address and solve this, but until . . . the federal government cuts this off, we’ve been dealt an impossible hand.
I’m as pro-business as you can get, but it’s frustrating to see what it’s doing to our community. . . . Haiti is in crumbles, in shambles right now, the country and the government, with literal cannibal gangs. I’m wondering how many of them have slipped through and made their way to my hometown.
Lots of people are wondering, but those who know, aren’t saying. The area’s experience is not that different from that of another city we discussed recently — Springfield, Ohio — a politically red town that has been suddenly inundated with illegal Haitian migrants. There is a method to this madness.
For more, see WAAY-TV.