In Springdale, Arkansas, immigrants drive growth. Local leaders worry cooperating with federal immigration raids endangers community trust.
By Jesse Bogan
The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/
Shortly after President Donald Trump resettled into the Oval Office last year, Derek Wright took over as the chief of police in the poultry-processing boomtown of Springdale, Arkansas. He had joined the force 19 years before, and as he rose through the ranks, the area increasingly became a magnet for immigrants seeking good jobs.
Springdale is in the red northwest corner of the state where Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former spokeswoman, is governor. Local Republican leaders remain close to Trump. This month, the president commuted the federal prison sentence of the son of the congressman for the area, who had been convicted of distributing methamphetamines.
Still, not everyone’s at ease in Trump country.Immediately after becoming chief, Wright heard complaints about federal immigration agents operating in Springdale, emboldened by mandates to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants. They were not identifying themselves to people, nor letting them know why they were being stopped, residents told Wright. He said he felt he had to intervene and started requesting to talk with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervisor. In an October meeting, finally face-to-face, Wright said he refused to enter a formal agreement to work with ICE and asked that immigration agents show respect and professionalism in the streets of Springdale.
“After the meeting, I’ve gotten substantially fewer complaints, and I know for a fact that they are still operating,” said Wright, 47.
This tension — between federal immigration agents whose efforts surpass anything in recent history and local police who need the trust of their communities to solve crimes — is playing out all over the country. As in many places, in Springdale, a relatively new chief and community leaders are trying to broker a working relationship with ICE, while preserving a firewall between local policing and federal immigration enforcement.
Over the last few decades, this area has become known as “Los Ozarks,” especially Springdale, where dozens of languages are spoken and leaders say they welcome new arrivals. Within a generation, the town — home to Tyson Foods, a $23 billion meat-processing company — has doubled its population to 89,000 people. At least a quarter of the residents are foreign-born. El Salvador and the Marshall Islands have set up consulates not far from plasma centers, auto parts stores and a bus station with routes deep into the heart of Mexico.
Chickens on a truck near a Tyson Foods plant in Springdale. Steve Hebert
A few towns over lies Bentonville, home of Walmart’s global headquarters, which has brought tremendous investment, helping transform the once rural region into a suburban destination.
Springdale straddles Washington and Benton counties, where Trump won in 2024, and where ICE has been busy since he returned to office. Leaders are trying to keep the community united as the Trump administration draws controversy in other cities for deploying swarms of federal immigration agents who are using aggressive tactics.
Mayor Doug Sprouse said there’s too much work to do with all the population growth and redevelopment going on, notably in Springdale’s historic downtown. He wants the town to remain attractive without getting pulled into national debates playing out in the news.
“Most people who know me would understand that I am pretty conservative. But at the same time, as a mayor of a city, you’ve got to get things done. You‘ve got to work with anybody,” said Sprouse, 69, who was elected in 2008 and has run unopposed ever since. “We can’t afford to get wrapped up in national issues, and everybody put their stake in the ground and not be moved. Our community would suffer. We wouldn’t accomplish what we need to accomplish for our residents.”
Last month, Sprouse responded to complaints from residents by putting out an announcement clarifying that local police weren’t enforcing federal immigration law.
“We recognize that to police effectively, we must have the trust and cooperation of all our residents,” Sprouse wrote in the statement. “Victims of crime and witnesses to criminal activity must feel safe coming forward to speak with our officers. If victims and witnesses believe that our officers are actively targeting them for deportation rather than protecting them from local crime, that trust is eroded, and everyone in Springdale becomes less safe. We are committed to serving every person who lives, works, and visits Springdale with dignity and respect.”
Federal and state officials in the same area seem to strike a different tone.
Through mid-October of 2025, ICE had arrested more than 2,600 people in Arkansas since Trump’s inauguration, according to the Deportation Data Project, which collects information about U.S. immigration arrests and detention. Last March, the governor supported legislation to expand Arkansas’ ban on “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with immigration officers to include unincorporated areas and counties. In September, she ordered up to 40 members of the Arkansas National Guard to deploy to Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Little Rock and Camp Robinson to help ICE by doing logistical and clerical tasks. Two months later, she approved the deployment of about 100 guardsmen to support “ongoing civil security operations” in Washington, D.C.
Sanders also mandated that the state police participate in a program “to expedite deportations and enhance cooperation” with ICE.
