Residents of the west-central town of Springfield, Ohio, are demanding that their city council do something to stem the tide of the Haitian immigrants that have flooded the city, especially in the aftermath of the death of a child in a school bus accident caused by a migrant driving illegally.
The town situated just west of the state capitol in Columbus has been a target of Haitian immigrants at least since 2014, and in the ensuing years, some ten thousand had moved to the Rust Belt town. But in the last four years alone, that population has ballooned to more than 20,000. The influx is causing serious pressures to mount on the town.
Ohio’s Republican U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance put the blame for the mounting problems squarely on the Biden administration, which is causing small towns all across the country to suffer just like Springfield.
“This self-imposed disaster is crushing the job prospects of our citizens, making it more difficult for Ohio families to find homes and draining social service programs funded by American taxpayers,” Vance told the media. “People who are here illegally should be sent back to their home countries as soon as possible, and individuals here on temporary status should not expect to stay indefinitely.”
The explosion of immigrants — many of whom do not speak English — has placed serious burdens on the town. Town services are being stretched thin, and costs for translating services, housing, and legal services have become a major expense.
For a few years, longtime residents were unbothered by the growing Haitian community, but over time, clashes have begun to occur as Haitians have become more obtrusive by driving illegally, piling into apartments and homes by the dozens, filling local schools with children who need special care in education and language services, and increasingly becoming a focus for government spending.
Residents are becoming uneasy as their town becomes increasingly decorated with Haitian flags, for instance. And some expressed concern when the Haitian flag was raised at City Hall instead of the U.S. flag during the city’s flag day celebrations.
But that uneasiness turned to outright anger when an 11-year-old child paid the price with his life for all this immigration. The incident occurred in August of last year when migrant Hermanio Joseph drove a 2010 Honda Odyssey into oncoming traffic causing a school bus filled with children on their way to their first day of school to spin out of control and flip over.
The accident left 11-year-old Aiden Clark dead and a dozen other children injured, some seriously.
The migrant, who had only been here a bit longer than a year, did not have a driver’s license and had never passed any state driving exams to obtain one.
Joseph, 36, was later convicted on first-degree felony involuntary manslaughter and fourth-degree felony vehicular homicide charges, both enhanced charges because he was driving without a license.
But the city has faced other problems, as well, especially in housing.
Migrants are claiming that some unscrupulous property owners are gouging them for rent and allowing a dozen or more to move into buildings and apartments where residency laws state that fewer than ten may reside.
“When I first came I was in a three bedroom house,” Haitian immigrant Patrick Joseph said, according to the Dayton Daily News. “We had more than 20 people living in that house. (The landlords) just rent the bed in the bedroom. A room can sleep like 10 people. And sometimes the house has only one bathroom.”
“[S]ometimes here in Springfield … one house have a lot of people, it’s not because we want to be with different people, like 27 together. It’s because some of them are not able to rent on their own, and they should rent a room from a third party. So that’s why you will see some addresses have 20 (to) 15 people,” added Rocking Horse Community Health Center official Johnson Salomon, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
The housing situation has driven city officials to plead with federal officials to help them solve the dearth of suitable living spaces for the mounting number of migrants.
In a letter sent by Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck to U.S. Sens. Sherod Brown (D-OH) and Tim Scott (R-FL), the town notes that its efforts to work on sustainable housing has been swamped by the number of migrants flocking to their town.
“But most recently, 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,” Heck noted in his letter.
“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,” he continued, “putting a significant strain on our resources and ability to provide ample housing for all of our residents. Despite 2000 additional housing units set to come online over the next three to five years, this is still not enough.”
“Again, 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,” the city manager concluded.
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