Ohio governor Mike DeWine has announced that he will send troopers and millions of dollars to Springfield amid a surge of Haitian migrants.
The Republican said Tuesday he doesn’t 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 impacted communities.
On Wednesday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol will be dispatched to help local law enforcement with traffic issues that officials say have cropped up due to an increase in Haitians unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws using the roads.
DeWine said he is also earmarking $2.5 million over two years to provide more primary healthcare through the county health department and private healthcare institutions.
On Monday, Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also drew attention to the crisis when he directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending ‘an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities.’
DeWine’s comments came just hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, where the Trump brought up unfounded claims that migrants have been eating pets in Springfield.
Ohio has already provided additional resources to Springfield to help with education and training for drivers, to pay for more vaccines and health screenings in schools, and to enhance translation services, explained DeWine. But he’s taking additional action.
‘These dramatic surges impact every citizen of the community, every citizen,’ he said, noting additional influxes are occurring in Findlay and Lima, Ohio.
‘Moms who have to wait hours in a waiting room with a sick child, everyone who drives on the streets, and it affects children who go to school in more crowded classrooms.’
DeWine’s family operates a charity in Haiti in honor of their late daughter, Becky, who died in a car accident. He said the Haitians who have moved to Ohio are generally hard-working people who love their families and who are seeking to escape the violence in their home country for good jobs in Ohio.
The town of Springfield has been a flashpoint in the debate over immigration ever since droves of Haitian migrants arrived in the city in 2020 to fill jobs vacancies.
Willing to do the blue-collar jobs locals were unenthusiastic about, the Haitians, who were already in the country legally, moved to the town.
The immigrants are there legally and eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status, according to an Immigration FAQ page on the city’s website, which says the total immigration population in Clark County is an estimated 12,000 to 15,000.
But their arrival has put a strain on medical services and the education system and sparked wild claims that they are eating people’s pets.
During Tuesday’s fiery presidential debate between Trump and Harris, the former president ranted about Haitian migrants ‘eating pets’ in Springfield.
‘In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,’ the Republican candidate said.
The claims, dismissed during the debate by the Vice President as ‘unbelievable and extreme’, have electrified the American political debate.
While city officials and law enforcement officers in Springfield say there have been no credible reports to suggest they are true, some fed-up residents maintain that it’s a problem.