Haitian immigrants helped save a shrinking, decaying city after industry left town, but some neighbors worry they put too much strain on services.
Springfield, Ohio, fell on hard times after the car factories closed and other industry pulled out, and its population fell from 80,000 in 1960 to 60,000 in 2014.
That was the year city officials put together a plan to save the town by convincing businesses to set up shop and provide new jobs.
They touted the low cost of living combined with its location on two interstate highways between Columbus and Dayton – and it worked.
Japanese vehicle parts maker Topre was one of the first to arrive in 2017, followed by a microchip manufacturer, a logistics company, and many more.
About 8,000 new jobs were created by 2020, which has only increased since then, but there were not enough workers to fill them.
Then Haitian immigrants elsewhere in the US, who were in the country legally after fleeing their gang-ridden homes, heard Springfield needed workers.
Willing to do the blue-collar jobs locals were unenthusiastic about and keen to pay lower rent than in big cities, they arrived in droves.
About 20,000 arrived in just a few years, swelling the town’s population – which was just 58,000 in the 2020 census.
The immigrants had social security numbers and job permits, paid taxes, and lived in houses that were empty and boarded up as the town shrank.
Their arrival was the engine that drove Springfield’s economic boom and allowed businesses to keep investing in it and creating more jobs and tax income.
But the Haitians also needed to see doctors when they got sick, and send their children to school.
Haitian patients from 115 to 1,500 between 2021 and 2023 and many of them don’t speak fluent English, overwhelming local health services.
Rocking Horse Community Health Center chief medical officer Yamini Teegala said language barriers meant a 15-minute consult took up to 45 minutes.
‘We lost productivity. We had a huge burnout of staff,’ she told the New York Times.
The clinic hired six Haitian Creole translators, but its translation budget blew out from $43,000 in 2020 to $436,000, which Teegala said was unsustainable.
Almost 350 new children were registered with the local public school district this year, most of them from immigrant families.
City officials said the school system was overwhelmed with so many new children at once, and most of the students don’t speak English, so the district hired two dozen translators.
Having filled the previously empty homes, later arrivals also contributed to a housing crisis egged on by landlords prioritizing immigrants who would pay more, instead of low-income locals on government subsidies.
‘Here in Springfield, the new homeless are people who can’t afford to pay $2,000 or $3,000 a month in rent,’ Michelle Lee-Hall, executive director of Springfield’s housing authority, said.
Bubbling tensions overflowed after a school bus crash caused by a Haitian immigrant veering into the wrong lane killed Aiden Clark, 11, on August 22 last year.
He was thrown out the emergency exit as the bus rolled off the road, and crushed as the vehicle went over him. Another 20 students were injured.
Angry residents used a July 30 council meeting to vent their pent-up feelings about immigrants moving into the town, making wild claims in their speeches.
One vocal resident, local Republican committee member Glenda Bailey, claimed the Haitians were ‘occupying our land’ and had low IQs.
‘They have become the occupiers. What they’ve done is they’ve replaced the population in Springfield,’ she claimed, warning they would soon become the majority and kick everyone else out.
Others falsely claimed the Haitian immigrants brought drugs, crimes, shoplifting, and disease with them – all refuted by city officials.
The issue gained national attention when city manager Bryan Heck wrote to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee on July 8, asking for more federal funding.
‘Springfield has seen a surge in population through immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce enough housing opportunities for all,’ he wrote.
‘Springfield’s Haitian population has increased to 15,000 – 20,000 over the last four years in a community of just under 60,000 previous residents, putting a significant strain on our resources and ability to provide ample housing for all of our residents.
‘Without further support at the Federal level, communities like Springfield are set up to fail in being able to meet the housing needs of its residents.’
Heck copied in Ohio Senator JD Vance, who not long after became Donald Trump’s running mate for the November 5 election.
‘I could not believe it when I first heard about it. Ask the people there, whether they have been enriched by 20,000 newcomers in four years,’ Vance declared at the National Conservativism Conference.
Soon Mayor Rob Rue went from talking up the city’s economic success to complaining about the migrant influx on national TV.
Some townspeople point to an interview he and Heck did on Fox News in July as heavily inflaming tensions.
The segment linked Springfield’s burgeoning population to the mass arrivals of ‘illegal immigrants’ at the southern border, despite the Haitians in the town being admitted to the US legally and having work permits.
‘This border crisis, the policy of this administration, is failing cities like ours and taxing us beyond our limit,’ Rue claimed.
Heck added: ‘It’s taxing our infrastructure. It’s taxing public safety. It’s taxing our schools. It’s taxing health care… it’s taxing our housing.’
Korge Mori, the child of Japanese immigrants, said the interview was ‘whipping up mass hysteria’ in Springfield, during the council meeting.
‘There was a time, not too long ago, when we were a dying city, hemorrhaging people and jobs to other places,’ he said.
‘And the good Lord heard our prayers, and brought us the gift of the Haitian immigrant community.’
Springfield Police also rubbished claims the immigrants caused trouble, saying property crime was only up in line with national trends.
There was also no evidence of Haitian gangs in the town.
‘I think it’s sad that some people are using this as an opportunity to spread hate or spread fear,’ deputy director of public safety and operations Jason Via told NPR.
‘We get these reports ‘the Haitians are killing ducks in a lot of our parks’ or ‘the Haitians are eating vegetables right out of the aisle at the grocery store’.
‘And we haven’t really seen any of that. It’s really frustrating. As a community, it’s not helpful as we try to move forward.’
Employers of Haitian immigrants, who have firsthand with them every day, also had nothing but positive words.
‘I think this whole notion of migrants taking American jobs is hogwash,’ Jamie McGregor, chief executive of local business McGregor Metal, told NPR.
‘That’s spoken like a true person that has never made a payroll or tried to, you know, run a business.’
McGregor said the Haitian immigrants were essential to the firm’s growth and success, and they made up 30 of his 300 staff.
‘Coming out of the pandemic, you know, the economy roared and demand was outpacing what we could produce,’ he said.
‘I mean, the fact of the matter is, without the Haitian associates that we have, we had trouble filling these positions.’
McGregor Metals has a testimonial from one of its workers on its website, praising its culture and support.
‘I like that it is a family-orientated business. When I first came here, I felt so welcomed by the people I work with, and I still do,’ it read.