The town of Springfield, Ohio has become a focal point in the nation’s debate over how to accommodate or deport millions of recent migrants. Residents testifying at a recent hearing revealed disturbing stories about some of the new third-world arrivals, including an allegation by one man about several individuals catching and eating wildlife at the local park.
Springfield’s population in 2020 was recorded as 58,000 but quickly swelled by more than 20,000 migrants who were shuttled in from border states like Texas seeking to dissipate their own flood of migrants into other parts of the country. The Daily News reported that Haitian migrants quickly obtained work permits and Social Security numbers allowing them to earn a living and rent some of the run-down homes left behind from a shrinking American population. However, the sudden influx put tremendous pressure on the community in other ways.
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During a recent meeting of the Springfield City Commission, one resident testified that he has seen the Haitian migrants “running into trash cans, they’re running into buildings… they’re flipping cars in the middle of the street!” He added: “I don’t know how y’all can be comfortable with this,” and suggested that “someone” connected to the local government “is getting paid in the background” while the pandemonium takes place. “I know a single mom that Facetimed me while she was at the welfare office, and it’s nothing but immigrants over there,” he said angrily.
But it was the next allegation that quickly commanded the internet’s attention. “They’re in the park, grabbing up ducks by they neck, and cutting their head off and walking off with them,” he asserted, “and eating ’em!” The man, who is Black, was quick to add that he didn’t want to come off as “anti-immigrant” but warned that lacksadaisical enforcement by town officials is allowing the arrivals to continue doing what they are “used to” in their home countries.
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Much of Springfield’s migrant debate has centered on the ability of Haitian migrants to drive safely following a deadly crash on Aug. 23rd caused by a migrant driving a bus who veered into the wrong lane and killed an 11-year-old boy, the Daily Mail reported. In the clip, the resident challenged city commission members to direct the Ohio State Police to enforce traffic laws with the migrant drivers. “Y’all pay them – they can go over there and teach the Haitians how to drive… It’s going to get bigger and it’s only going to get worse,” he warned. Another attendee complained that local car insurance rates are skyrocketing as a result.
During their turn to speak, city officials rebuffed allegations from residents that Haitians were bringing drugs and committing crimes or shoplifting more than the American population, an opinion concurred with by local police who were at the meeting. “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.”
Another woman who spoke at the city’s meeting said she and her husband were forced to move from their home of 45 years after recent arrivals plundered the local neighborhood and brought in blight. “I’m done with what I’m seeing. It is so unsafe in my neighborhood anymore,” she testified. “I have the homeless that were trying to camp out, and I have made concessions with them.”
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