How Two Midwestern Towns Respond to Immigration

How Two Midwestern Towns Respond to Immigration

The phrase, "small Midwestern towns," often brings to mind an unfortunate stereotype in the minds of big-city urbanites: mundane, backward people in a socially unappealing and legally archaic setting. Small Midwestern towns, however, are not all the hovels of provincial intellect that they are so frequently made out to be. The idiosyncrasies each of them possesses are lost on those who have never taken more than a passing glance at them.

After living in two small towns, I have developed an appreciation for their unique respective qualities. Wausau, Wisconsin and Goshen, Indiana are no exception to this rule of singularity. In addition to their specific identities, these towns have the added variable of two distinct and sizable immigrant populations, Wausau's immigrants being largely Ming, Goshen's immigrants being largely Mexican. While Wausau and Goshen may seem similar on a map of size, population, and non-immigrant demographics, they share little in their economic makeup, positional character, or active response to immigration. These differences of identity shape their attitudes towards immigration. Wausau's identity is supple and accommodates the redefinition that immigration demands. Goshen's identity is taut and rejects the redefinition.

One reason for Goshen's comparatively negative attitude towards immigration is the perceived threat to job security. There is a large population of blue-collar factory workers and there are numerous factories in the Goshen area. Indeed, one can hardly go anywhere within the Goshen municipality and be out of eyesight of some factory or industry-related structure. (My personal favorite of these "sightings" are the ten-minute delays at a train crossing while some factory's cargo is loaded onto flatbeds.) Generally it is these factory jobs that immigrants are assumed to "covet" and "infiltrate." While newer wisdom suggests that immigrants actually very rarely take jobs from willing local applicants, this wisdom has yet to trickle to the ears of those who fear the opposite. Though Wausau certainly has laborers, it is not a factory town and so the numbers of up-in-arms factory employees are lower and, while the same fear of being "overrun" exists, it is definitively the opinion of the minority. From the start, then, Wausau's identity is not threatened by the issue of immigration on the same economic level that Goshen's identity is.

A more involved reason for the attitudinal difference is the actual physical positioning of the towns in relation to surrounding towns or cities and how this position affects their sense of identity. Wausau, though no larger than Goshen in population, is a virtual oasis of modernity and convenience in the desert of forest and backwoods fish-fry restaurants that is North-Central Wisconsin. As a general hub in local civilization, Wausau enjoys a sense of importance that is unrivaled. As a result Wausonians are exceptionally proud of their small town and are thereby dedicated to its social and economic well being.

In contrast, Goshen is slung loosely on the trailing end of what is essentially a hierarchical line of regional urban importance. This processional is led, of course, by Chicago, followed closely by Gary, South Bend, Mishawaka, and Elkhart, and at the very end, hardly worthy of the mention, is Goshen. In fact, the only reason anyone pays any attention at all to Goshen is because of its unlikely role as the county seat. I think many Goshenites feel (whether consciously or subconsciously) like a footnote to the larger Elkhart/South Bend area. There is no general pride in a common Goshenian experience; no central ethos of dedication and worthiness.

When a town, like Goshen, lacks a strong sense of self-worth and identity, issues such as immigration are predictably problematic, because immigration demands that the perimeters of identity be broadened. Goshen's identity is already strained and confused; it has neither the precedent nor the security to accept immigration with maturity. Wausau, endowed with a strong sense of identity, is prepared to accept