Springfield, Ohioans: We're Second-Class to Haitians

A number of residents from Springfield, Ohio residents, have expressed outrage toward their city council that the federal and local governments are treating Haitian migrants better than themselves.

On Sept. 24, local Springfield residents attended a city commission meeting. During the meeting, frustrations from residents ran rampant, with many expressing concerns that the government was overlooking them.

One resident, Richard Jordan, who spoke during the meeting, said that his criticisms of the government's handling of the matter were being misconstrued as racist. However, Jordan went on to point out that the government has been disregarding Black Americans in Springfield as well.

"I'm getting tired of people portraying white people as being racist and told and told that we hate Black people," Jordan told city officials. "One thing, right now, they're trying to misconstrue things here, and the Haitian people are trying to act like they are African Americans that have been here — born and raised here."

"And I want to know why [the Haitians] are being coddled, and pampered, and given [this] beautiful life — life better than I live off my tax dollars?" Jordan added. "We are second-class citizens. The citizens that were born here."

Prior to the meeting, several residents spoke to the Blaze. One resident told the Blaze's Julio Rosas, "We're not getting any solutions right now. And it's up to our leaders — all of them, even the county commissions need to come in on this because it affects the whole county."

"We need to sit down together and come up with a list of the problems and come up with solutions," the resident stated.

Residents said they feel the local government is displacing them following the influx of 20,000 Haitian nationals in a city of roughly 60,000, as they face a litany of problems, including traffic accidents, the increased costs of living due to the migrants' government stipends such as a spike in rental costs, a housing shortage, increased car prices. One resident said he was left homeless because he was priced out of a rental unit by a Haitian migrant. One Black Springfield resident expressed concern that employers are choosing Haitians over locals.

Another resident told the Blaze that the Haitians are being trafficked to the city — possibly for labor.

"They're being trafficked for labor and who knows what else," he said. "And the way they're being taken advantage of. They're paying three times as much for rent as what they should be."

"Why is that?" he asked. "If we're going to welcome them into our community, why are we going to exploit them that way? Why are we going to let them be exploited that way?"

Another Springfield resident, Diana Daniels, said that during the commission meeting, "Every time a citizen got up here and had a concern … [they received] pushback. 'That's racist; that's xenophobic.' When, in fact, you weren't listening to what was said underneath."

"The city commission and someone decided that race needed to be the issue," she added.

With regards to Haitians abusing or mutilating animals, resident Mark Sanders said that when he voiced concerns to the city, they went ignored.

"Everything that's happened in this city in the last two weeks [is] your fault," Sanders said of Springfield officials. "In March of this year, I brought to the commission about domestic animal abuse. Gave you where to look. Nobody looked. Nobody."

Following the meeting, public officials took some questions. Springfield Republican Mayor Rob Rue also gave a comment.

"I just need to say, I had no foreknowledge of immigrants coming into our community and making a decision to allow or disallow," Rue said. "Folks that are here are here. And I have said this multiple times publicly: It is our job to make sure this community's secure and that we wrap our arms around this situation. It is a human thing to do, period. I don't like to see a broad brush of hate swathed against any human group, and I don't like seeing what we're seeing in the last couple weeks."

"As good city leaders, we are subject to the federal administration policy that we are dealing with ... which means we're going to deal with it, and that's the best we can do," he added. "It is, again, a misunderstanding or absolutely not true that I would be accused not to care about the things that we're hearing from both of these podiums and microphones."