How an Ohio Town Landed in the Middle of the Immigration Debate | Jobs attracted thousands of Haitians to Springfield, and employers were ecstatic. But then an immigrant driver was involved in a fatal school bus crash. And JD Vance entered the fray.

# Springfield and Haitians

> Haitians were new to the region. During the last census, in 2020, a little more than 58,000 people lived in Springfield, a town at the crossroads of America that had fallen on hard times and shed population as opportunity slipped away. But it has changed dramatically in recent years, as a boom in manufacturing and warehouse jobs attracted a swelling wave of immigrants, mainly from Haiti. City officials estimate that as many as 20,000 Haitians have arrived, most of them since the pandemic.

# Growing pains

> By most accounts, the Haitians have helped revitalize Springfield.

> They are assembling car engines at Honda, running vegetable-packing machines at Dole and loading boxes at distribution centers. They are paying taxes on their wages and spending money at Walmart. On Sundays they gather at churches for boisterous, joyful services in Haitian Creole.

> But the speed and volume of arrivals have put pressure on housing, schools and hospitals. The community health clinic saw a 13-fold increase in Haitian patients between 2021 and 2023, from 115 to 1,500, overwhelming its staff and budget.

# The “invasion”

> At a meeting on July 30, residents stepped up to two podiums in a session that quickly devolved into chaos.

> “Haitians are occupying our land,” declared one middle-aged woman, Glenda Bailey, warning that the immigrants would soon become the majority and run everyone else out of town. She said they had low IQs.

> Korge Mori, the child of Japanese immigrants, was among a handful of residents who lauded the Haitians. He scolded the mayor and the city manager for “whipping up mass hysteria” during a recent appearance on “Fox & Friends” in which they had blamed President Biden’s policies for the Haitians taxing their city.

> “There was a time, not too long ago, when we were a dying city, hemorrhaging people and jobs to other places. And the good Lord heard our prayers, and brought us the gift of the Haitian immigrant community,” he said.

!ping IMMIGRATION&USA-OH