Fairhope residents voice concerns over immigrant rumors
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Reports of up to one thousand Haitian immigrants coming to Baldwin county in the next few weeks — specifically Fairhope — prompted an overwhelming turnout at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Mayor Sherry Sullivan and council members tried to shut it down -- not only dismissing the report -- but calling them “rumors.”
“To be clear we have not seen or received any notification that -- that is happening -- nor that it is expected to happen in Fairhope,” said Mayor Sullivan.
“Imagine my surprise when I start getting text messages and emails that we were inviting residents to live in our city. Folks let me tell you -- that’s just patently false. It’s just false. We’ve never even had a conversation -- not even in a work session -- not even in a council meeting,” said Fairhope City Councilman Jack Burrell.
“We will never be a sanctuary city -- we have no desire to be that. And the last number I heard was up to 30,000 refugees. So, it went from 1,000 to 5,000 to 15-to-30,000,” said Fairhope City Councilman Jimmy Conyers.
It’s definitely a hot button issue that had standing-room only in council chambers with the overflow filling up the lobby.
Some of the council members -- even saying they felt like he issue had gotten “out of control” on social media -- and telling people to use “common sense” -- when reading stuff online. Residents did not like that.
However, some of the report in question -- stems from a letter signed in 2022 -- by Council President Corey Martin at the height of the Ukrainian War -- and a program that would help women and children refugees. Martin says he does not know how it got to this point.
Meanwhile -- some who spoke compared it to Springfield, Ohio -- and the Haitian immigrant population there. Most who spoke -- say whether they’re legal are not -- they don’t believe Baldwin County nor Fairhope could support a mass relocation of immigrants.
“And I would say -- I support legal immigration and I think most people in Fairhope probably do. We do. But not illegal immigration,” said one woman.
“I really wanted to come and address that our schools really cannot take on any more students, especially students that don’t speak English. Our schools are maxed out -- our teachers are at capacity. I was at my son’s baseball game when I listened to what you were saying -- and I want to remind everyone why we’re here. We’re here because of a letter that you signed. We’re not here because we’re incompassionate or we don’t have feelings or we don’t care about people. And you know what -- all I could think of when you were talking -- you were gaslighting every single one of us,” said one woman.
“Looks like y’all stepped in it -- didn’t you,” said one woman. “Tell us what you’re going to do -- if this does come to pass. Ok... Y’all are sitting up here all smug and everything -- tell us what we need to know.”
“When I heard what our mayor said -- and then I heard what each of you said -- I felt like y’all are saying don’t worry about it... It’s not going to happen... We’re not going to approve this... Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter whether you approve it -- it’s going to happen,” said one woman.
“My question to you specifically -- is Fairhope Police Department ready to handle this? -- What’s the answer on that,” said one man.
“Haitian immigrants -- both those here documented and undocumented -- commit crimes at lower rates than native born Americans do. According to the Cato Institute -- I hate having to site them,” said one man.
Following the public participation -- Council President Martin -- had this to say: “We listen to our constituents -- we hear them. We don’t want any fear factors. We want to let our constituents know -- that there are no illegal anybody coming in. The program that I signed was about three years ago. It was a federal program. There was never an ethnicity involved -- it was about displaced refugees. And when you’re given much -- you’re expected to do much. So, the protection of women and children is something I stand on -- and I don’t see a problem with that as long as it’s in a legal fashion.”
Meanwhile -- we also spoke to Congressman Jerry Carl -- who said -- he along with Baldwin County and Fairhope City officials spent the better part of this weekend trying to track down the source of this report -- and says at this point there’s no truth to it -- but said he’ll continue to look into it. Congressman Carl also added he too does not think Baldwin County can accommodate a mass influx of immigrants, especially when it comes to housing.
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