Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced he will send troops and millions of dollars to Springfield amid a surge in Haitian migrants.
The Republican said Tuesday he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which some 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities.
On Wednesday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol will be dispatched to assist local law enforcement with traffic problems that officials say have arisen due to an increase in the number of Haitians unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws using the roads.
DeWine said he is also allocating $2.5 million over two years to provide more primary health care through the county health department and private health care facilities.
On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, also drew attention to the crisis when he ordered his office to investigate legal avenues, including filing a lawsuit, to stop the federal government from sending “unlimited numbers of immigrants into Ohio communities.”
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced he will send troops and millions of dollars to Springfield amid a surge of Haitian immigrants.
The Republican said Tuesday he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which some 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 residents since 2020.
DeWine’s comments came just hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, where Trump brought up unsubstantiated claims that migrants have been eating pets in Springfield.
Ohio has already provided additional resources to Springfield to help with driver education and training, to pay for more vaccinations and health screenings in schools and to improve translation services, DeWine said. But it is taking additional steps.
“These dramatic increases affect every citizen in the community, every citizen,” he said, noting that additional influxes are occurring in Findlay and Lima, Ohio.
‘Moms who have to wait hours in a waiting room with a sick child, all the driving on the streets, and it affects children who go to school in more crowded classrooms.’
DeWine’s family runs a charity in Haiti in honor of their late daughter, Becky, who died in a car accident. He said Haitians who have moved to Ohio are generally hard-working people who love their families and are looking to escape violence in their home country to find good jobs in Ohio.
The city of Springfield has been a flashpoint in the immigration debate since large numbers of Haitian immigrants arrived in the city in 2020 to fill vacant jobs.
Haitians, who were already in the country legally, moved to the city and were willing to do the manual labor that the locals were not enthusiastic about.
The immigrants are there legally and are eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status, according to an Immigration FAQ page on the city’s website, which says the total immigrant population in Clark County is about 12,000 to 15,000.
But their arrival has put a strain on healthcare and education services and prompted wild claims that they are eating people’s pets.
A Springfield resident said he has heard reports of Haitians taking ducks from public parks.
Another resident said the wave of migration is driving her out of her community.
During Tuesday’s heated presidential debate between Trump and Harris, the former president railed against Haitian immigrants who “eat pets” in Springfield.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people who came here are eating the cats,” said the Republican candidate.
The claims, dismissed during the debate by the vice president as “unbelievable and extreme,” have electrified the American political debate.
Although city officials and law enforcement in Springfield say there have been no credible reports suggesting they are true, some fed-up residents maintain it is a problem.
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