This Midwestern U.S. City Will Pay Migrants $15,000 to Move There

While some cities are struggling to accommodate them, one city is happy to receive these migrants. The city of Topeka in Kansas is offering to pay migrants up to $15,000 to come live with them.

Over 225,000 migrants crossed the southern border in that single month. Many commentators are referring to the excessive amount of crossing at the border as a “crisis” because of the potential to strain resources.

The program is half-paid for by the employer of the person, while the other half is funded by taxpayers residing in the city.

Topeka is a welcome change for many cities across the country who are complaining about the influx of migrants.

“The international crisis that we are experiencing right now is being subsidized by local economies,” he said. “That is not sustainable, and that’s why we need Congress to actually have appropriations to make sure that what refugees from Ukraine receive, we have to ask … why aren’t those same support services being provided for individuals who are coming from the continent of Africa and Central and South America?”

The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, estimated that the cost to provide for the 161,00 migrants it took in to be around $12 billion in the next three years. “This national crisis is impacting – and it has the potential to destabilize – the financial obligations that we have in our cities,” Adams said.

One reason for this role reversal is that Texas is actively bussing migrants away from the border and into big Democrat cities that have declared themselves “sanctuary cities.”

He is optimistic about attracting migrants, saying, “The city doesn’t have the resources to build migrant shelters, but will take any new arrivals ready to work and contribute to the economy.”

These efforts have amounted to 10% of the Topeka government office tourism budget. They have also put out Spanish posts on social media platforms like Facebook to entice Spanish speakers to reach out to the city directly about opportunities.

In the 1800s, more settlers started moving west and finding new homes in the area. Topeka was officially chartered as a city in 1857.

Topeka was also one of the first stops on the Oregon Trail, which saw many settlers move west. The city has many museums and historical monuments one can visit.

Since it isn’t too big, commuting throughout all parts of the city is quite efficient. Many claim that it’s a great place to raise a family, as well.

Currently, over 11,700 migrant children are in federal custody, with no end to the crossings in sight.

“I urge Congress to come together and swiftly pass this bipartisan agreement,” he said in a statement. Biden has to strike a delicate balance to differentiate his efforts to restrict the border from his predecessor Donald Trump. This is especially pressing, given that both will be the presumptive nominees for the U.S. presidential election later this year.

And as the demand to enter the United States from countries south of the border continues, America will have to figure out how to strike a balance with this new norm.

According to The Nation, one of the primary motivations for refugees seeking asylum is the history of US interventionism in Central America.

According to the New York Times, the CIA overthrew a Guatemalan-elected leader, which allowed the proliferation of dictatorships in the region that were also supported by the United States. Conditions in the region would further deteriorate in the future.

However, America once again backed the right-wing military regimes that were intent on suppressing the rebels, according to The Nation. Refugees began fleeing north from these war-torn countries, with the children of these refugees being recruited into the gangs that have now destabilized the border.

As average temperatures continued to rise in Central America, so too did the frequency and duration of droughts. Storms began to intensify, causing excessive flooding and extreme rains. This made farming in the region difficult, depressing the ability of people in the region to sustain themselves.

As more migrants are pushed by wars and the economy to seek asylum in the United States, those successful migrants pull in other people to follow them. Often these migrants will attract family members, friends, and other people of like-mind and culture to band together in the hopes of a better life.

According to the World Bank, countries in Central America have some of the highest rates of violent crime. In 2016, El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world, with Honduras coming in second place. Many of the countries in Central America made the top 20 for highest murder rates among countries.

According to US Customs and Border Protection Statistics, by the end of 2021, there were 1.73 million migrant encounters that year. This was a record number at the time. The number of migrant encounters has continued to skyrocket since this spike with no end in sight.

However, as Biden got to work trying to change policies, the migrant crisis continued to spiral out of control. According to Human Rights Watch, President Biden was forced to rely on the same Trump-era policies he hoped to end to combat the problem.

Over 541,000 of these migrants were from a trio of countries called the Northern Triangle. These countries are El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Criminal violence once again spiked in these countries and government crack-downs created an unprecedented new wave of refugees.

Although many politicians put their best efforts into a resolution it was ultimately defeated in February, according to Business Insider.

Almost immediately, the very same Republicans in Congress who were touting the bill began to walk back, ensuring it was successfully destroyed.

According to these Republicans, the bill simply wasn’t good. It didn’t give them all that they wanted, in regards to the southern border. However, many analysts did note that the bill would’ve put strict policy on the border not seen in decades.

Trump is once again up against Biden, and pointing out Biden’s failures at the southern border could help the former president earn some votes.

Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat, even said that Trump himself killed a “slam dunk border bill.”

This idea has been considered by Biden for months now. Some reports hinted that he would make this declaration at the State of the Union, though the president eventually decided against it.

However, recent reporting has indicated that it is looking more likely that Biden will issue executive actions to help the border crossings. These actions could even shut down, or close, the border.

For example, many state that Biden could’ve solved this problem months — or even years — ago. However, he waited until election year to consider an executive action. Trump, meanwhile, seemingly just wants to run on the problem so that he wins.

These children sometimes come with families but are also sent alone. Children cannot be easily deported, which leads to a policy where they are held in federal custody to wait for contact from family relatives. This is a public relations nightmare for the administration in charge as the number of crossings continues to rise.

Paying people to move and work there is one such idea. Places like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Rochester, New York all have programs where people can apply to get money and move into the region.

Topeka remains a unique case, as it’s pushing for more migrants to find a job and a home within its city limits.

The willingness of Topeka to take in migrants might be a hint for one possible solution to this crisis. Perhaps the crisis will not ultimately be solved by the federal government but by the compassion of concerned citizens of the United States.