COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s governor will deploy millions of dollars in police and health resources to the city of Springfield as it faces an influx of temporary Haitian migrants that has thrust the city into the national spotlight.
Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, said Tuesday he had no objections to the Temporary Protected Status program, under which about 15,000 Haitians have come to the city of about 59,000 residents since 2020. However, he said the federal government must do more to help the affected communities.
His press conference came just hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, where differences over immigration policy were sure to be a topic of discussion.
On Monday, Ohio’s Republican Attorney General Dave Yost also drew attention to the crisis when he directed his office to explore legal options – including filing a lawsuit – to stop the federal government from sending “an unlimited number of migrants into Ohio communities.”
Thousands of temporary Haitian migrants have landed in the city in recent years as long-standing unrest in their homeland has given way violent gangs rule the streets.
Ohio has already provided Springfield with additional funding to support driver education and training, fund more vaccinations and health screenings in schools, and improve translation services, DeWine said, but he is taking more action.
“These dramatic increases are affecting every citizen of the community, every citizen,” he said, noting that Findlay and Lima, Ohio, are seeing additional influxes. “Mothers who have to wait for hours in the waiting room with a sick child, everyone who drives on the roads, and it’s affecting children who go to school in more crowded classrooms.”
On Wednesday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol will be deployed to assist local law enforcement with traffic problems that authorities say have arisen as more Haitians use the roads who are unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws. DeWine said he would also provide $2.5 million over two years to improve primary health care provided by the county health department and private health facilities.
DeWine’s family runs 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 want to escape the violence in their homeland to find good jobs in Ohio.
