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.”