Town’s mayor tackles illegal immigration

The sounds of daily life in Valley Park are varied — trains, front-end loaders — unless you're in the modest apartment of a young family that left suddenly last week. There, silence permeates the space.

"They told me they had to go," says apartment complex manager Terry Cooper. "Little Emme said, ‘Terry, please let me stay in your casa with you.’ That broke my heart right there."

The family, illegal immigrants, spent four years in this town of 6,500 near St. Louis, making a home and making friends.

"They're like my family," Cooper says. "They all were."

But the mayor saw a potential problem.

Despite no great influx of illegal immigrants and what the mayor himself admits has been little trouble, he decided his town would tackle an issue he says the federal government has fumbled.

"We're concerned that Valley Park could wind up as a haven for illegal immigrants," Valley Park Mayor Jeffery Whitteaker says. "We're out to stop that from happening."

While the targets here in Valley Park are illegal immigrants, the city is going after businesses hiring them and the landlords who house them.

Businesses stand to lose their licenses. And property owners like Stephanie Reynolds face $500 fines unless she evicts a family that in a decade has never been late with the rent.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

"I can't see that that taking these people and moving them out of Valley Park is going to do any justice," says Reynolds.

Residents like a woman who slipped into this country illegally from Mexico eight years ago.

"I love here, I love United States, I want to stay here," she says.

Those charged with enforcing the rules — landlords and employers — don't want the job.

"Mr. President, Congress, Senate, get busy and help us solve this problem," landlord Ed Sidwell says.

A small town struggling to define boundaries, far from any border.