COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The governor of Ohio will send law enforcement and millions of dollars in health care resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants that has landed it in the national spotlight.
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine 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.
Springfield, Ohio, is at the center of one of the most fraught issues in this election. GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance wrote that “Haitian illegal immigrants” are “draining social services and generally causing chaos.” Springfield has seen its population grow by over 20 percent in four years, driven mostly by immigration. William Brangham visited the city to understand how it is coping.
His news conference was held just hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, where the divide over immigration policy was sure to be an issue.
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.”
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Thousands of temporary Haitian migrants have landed in the city in recent years, as longstanding unrest in their home country has given way to violent gangs ruling the streets.
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.”
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.
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.