By this point, most of us have heard the phrase, ‘every town is a border town now‘ because of the ongoing Biden border crisis. We typically think of places like Chicago, Los Angeles, and, of course, New York City, where armies of migrants sleep out on the streets and in makeshift encampments. But those are actually cities, not “towns.” What happens when the influx of illegal migrants strikes an actual town, particularly a small one without all of the resources typically available in the larger cities? Roughly six hours by car from the Big Apple, not far from the Ohio border, the people of Jamestown, New York (population 28,000) are starting to find out. Residents of the very small village recently learned that as many as 35 illegal migrants, almost all of them from Colombia, have settled in their town and many more are expected to arrive soon. (NY Post)

In this small town — about as far as one can get from the southern border without entering Canada — residents are bracing for an influx of migrants that could cause a crisis similar to the one that has New York City facing a fiscal cliff.

“If a city of 8 million people can be overwhelmed by a couple thousand migrants, imagine what a couple hundred can do to overwhelm a small rural community upstate?” warned state Sen. Joe Borrello (R-Jamestown).

“It wouldn’t take many migrants to overwhelm the system,” he added.

I’ve been to or traveled through Jamestown many times over the years because it sits on the primary interstate leading to Ohio. It’s one of those “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” communities that dot the upstate region. Like virtually any community in the country, they had their own homelessness problem before the border crisis began. (Their names are Phil, Mark, and Judy.) But aside from a couple of churches, there really aren’t any large-scale shelters or free food outlets in Jamestown.

One three-bedroom house in the town is now home to ten migrants from several families. The conditions are very crowded, but some charitable locals have helped a few of them obtain jobs (illegally) at a local thrift store and a few other shops. That situation won’t hold for long, however, particularly if a lot more of them start showing up. It’s also worth pointing out that Jamestown is in upstate New York and they get real winter there. The temperature in that town this morning was 17 degrees when the sun came up. Sleeping outdoors can be lethal.

How did Jamestown become the destination of choice for so many Colombian migrants when it barely shows up on a map? According to some of the migrants who spoke to reporters through a translator, it was something like an old-fashioned game of telephone. One small family of migrants had a relative living in Jamestown who offered to let them stay with her. Down in the migrant camps along the border, the news of one family having a couple of extra rooms quickly made its way through the grapevine, rapidly morphing into ‘Jamestown is the place to go for resettlement.’

That was all it took, and soon, when asked where they needed to go, more and more Colombian illegals said they needed transportation to Jamestown, New York. Border officials are just relieved to be able to ship the migrants anywhere so they didn’t ask any questions. And now many more are reportedly on the way.

The locals are concerned about what will happen in the near future. People have already begun selling fake Social Security cards and licenses to some of them. Those who are unable to find legal jobs have already turned up selling drugs. As with all communities with large numbers of homeless people and illegal migrants, crime rates always go up as the overcrowding continues. Jamestown has a grand total of 60 police officers and less than a dozen patrol cars. What are they supposed to do when an actual crime wave arrives in their sleepy village?

The village council shouldn’t expect any federal aid from Washington to deal with this mess. The White House has bigger fish to fry and a little town like this won’t generate enough headlines to spur the government to act. The obvious answer would not be to create housing and services for hundreds of migrants in Jamestown. It would be to cut off the flow of migrants coming into the country and looking for a place to roost.