OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:02 PM – Wednesday, September 11, 2024
The city of Springfield, which is dealing with an influx of Haitian illegals that have brought the region national attention, will be sent additional law enforcement and millions of dollars in resources from the governor of Ohio.
Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stated on Tuesday that while the “Temporary Protected Status” program has been implemented, which has allowed over 15,000 Haitians to enter the 59,000-person city since 2020, he believes more needs to be done by the federal government to assist affected towns.
The city of Springfield is at the center of one of the most controversial topics in this election. GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance stated that “Haitian illegal immigrants” are “draining social services and generally causing chaos.”
Springfield has seen its population grow by over 20% in four years, driven mostly by illegal immigration, PBS reported.
In an effort to stop the federal government from continuing to send “an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities,” Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost authorized his office to investigate legal options on Monday, including the possibility of launching a lawsuit.
DeWine clarified that Ohio has already given Springfield extra funding to support driver education and training, pay for more immunizations and health checks in schools, and improve translation services.
“These dramatic surges impact every citizen of the community, every citizen,” he said. “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.”
The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be sent to assist local law enforcement on Wednesday in addressing traffic-related problems that have now arisen, according to officials, as a result of more Haitians using the roads who are not familiar with American traffic laws and not assimilating well into American culture.
According to DeWine, he has also set aside $2.5 million over a two-year period to expand primary healthcare services offered by private healthcare facilities and the county health department.
Additionally, in a Springfield police 9-1-1 call from August 26th, a local homeowner said on Tuesday that four Haitian immigrants were out at a nearby park holding dead geese whose necks had been broken.
The Federalist outlet was also able to obtain audio of a man reporting the incident to a local dispatcher, which was included in the article.
“I’m sitting here, I’m riding on the trail, I’m going to my orientation for my job today, and I see a group of Haitian people, there was about four of ’em, they all had geese in their hands,” the caller said.
Screenshots of a Facebook post from another resident in a Springfield locals group also claimed that a friend’s cat went missing recently and was subsequently witnessed being prepared for dinner in the yard of a Haitian immigrant.
A handful of Springfield residents have voiced during public city council meetings that the surge in Haitian migrants and their “barbaric” methods of hunting local animals for consumption is distressing and has no place in their community.
However, a spokesperson from the Springfield Police Department still claimed that there were no “credible” reports of any illegal immigrants taking part in these acts, seemingly gaslighting community members and those who have personally claimed to have witnessed these situations.
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