Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced he will channel resources to help alleviate the influx of some 20,000 Haitian immigrants who have arrived legally in the city of Springfield under the Biden-Harris administration in recent years.
“As these numbers increase dramatically, there is some obligation for the federal government to assist local communities that had nothing to do with the decision about bringing people in, but are now finding themselves with massive numbers of people,” DeWine said Tuesday ahead of the presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The city had just 59,000 residents according to the 2020 census, and city officials have pointed to the surge in migrants as the reason for a housing crisis and unsafe roads after a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy.
OHIO RESIDENTS IN SMALL TOWN ARE ANGRY AT HAVOC CAUSED BY MASSIVE INFLUX OF 20,000 HAITIANS
Governor Mike DeWine speaks during a news conference, Dec. 29, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The Haitians arrived under a Biden-Harris administration program that helps certain migrants flee their violent and unstable countries. Despite the problems the program has brought to the community, which have led to local residents protesting it, DeWine supports it.
“I want to be very clear, absolutely clear: I am not against this program,” said DeWine, whose family runs a charity in Haiti. “I am not against this program.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also ordered his office this week to investigate legal avenues that could prevent the federal government from “sending unlimited numbers of immigrants into Ohio communities.”
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A man testifies at a city commission meeting in Springfield, Ohio. (Springfield, Ohio City Commission Video/Fox News Digital)
“This is absurd. Springfield has grown by more than a third because of immigrants,” Yost said in a statement. “How many people are they expected to take in? What are the limits of the federal government's power? Could the federal government simply funnel all of the millions of immigrants arriving en masse under the current administration's watch into Ohio?”
“There has to be a limiting principle. We're going to find a way to bring this mess before a federal judge,” Yost said.
He added that the problem is not the migrants themselves, but the large number of them “in a short period of time.”
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A woman speaks at a city commission meeting in Springfield, Ohio. (Springfield, Ohio City Commission Video/Fox News Digital)
DeWine pledged a total of $2.5 million over two years for the county health department and other health care facilities that have been overwhelmed by the surge in migrants, as well as more resources for law enforcement.
Springfield has become the center of the contentious 2024 presidential battle for the White House, as Trump mentioned Residents' reports Haitian immigrants are kidnapping residents' pets and stealing geese from lakes. City officials have denied the reports.
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The migrants have also drawn the ire of local residents, who have been urging city officials to take action.
“I see what's going on in the streets. And I see you guys sitting up there in comfortable chairs and suits… I really challenge you to go out and do something,” Anthony Harris, 28, said during a recent city council meeting. “These Haitians are crashing into trash cans, they're crashing into buildings, they're flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don't know how you can get comfortable with this.”
