What’s Going on in Springfield, Proximity News, and Student Opinions

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Kerry Kadel | Editor-in-Chief

“They have fear. A lot of fears going on right now. Some of them are talking about leaving Springfield, some of them are scared for their life […] It’s a little bit tough for us.” – Rose-Thamar Joseph, secretary of Haitian Community Help and Support Center 

Springfield, Ohio, is all anyone can talk about after Presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that Haitian immigrants living in the city are eating residential citizen’s pets. 

While the allegations are false, there are troubles in Springfield pertaining to Haitian immigrants with overpopulation. 

Flyer News posted about the false claims to its Instagram story, which resulted in fervent opinions from the student body, and a comment in our DMs, “Why don’t some of you guys drive up to Springfield and see what’s going on and actually be useful.” 

If you watched the debate between Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on Tuesday, Sept. 10, some topics of discussion may have grabbed your attention. 

Perhaps the biggest one on your mind is about Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, and eating the residents’ pets. 

This is a false claim that started when Springfield had an enormous population swell of Haitian immigrants from 15,000 to 20,000 in the recent years, as documented by a previous Cincinnati Enquirer article. According to Chad Murphy from The Columbus Dispatch, City Manager Bryan Heck wrote to Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Tim Scott to support the huge housing crisis that the city was facing because of the influx of immigrants. 

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine held a news conference on Tuesday Sept. 10, hours before the debate, where the topic of immigration was sure to be discussed. According to The Associated Press, DeWine stated during that conference that he doesn’t oppose the Temporary Protected Status program, but that the government must do more to help these impacted communities. AP journalist Julie Carr Smyth continues the article by explaining how Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost spoke on this topic when directing his team to search legal routes in order “to stop the federal government from sending ‘an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities.’” Many temporary Haitians are found in the city of Springfield as there have been heavy unrests of gang violence ruling streets. 

The state of Ohio has been providing resources for Springfield such as driving instructors, education, vaccine screenings in schools, and translators for the Haitian immigrants. 

Vance declared that immigrants were overtaking Springfield’s housing, referencing the article to having the Internet explode with stories all over social media. This quickly turned into false allegations against the Haitian immigrants, which Heck refuted immediately stating that there was no evidence of harm being done to Springfield residents’ pets. Heck also denied rumors that immigrants are involved in illegal activities relating to squatting, littering, or disrupting traffic. 

Due to these allegations of the Haitian community arising, the city of Springfield has recorded 30 bomb threats to schools, government buildings, and the homes of city officials, stated by AP journalists Smyth and Michael Rubinkam. 

Springfield Haitian resident Alimemby Estimable, 19, has lived in Springfield for four years and is a graduate of Springfield High School. He has been called a “dirty Haitian” and an “illegal” at his job where he works at an Amazon warehouse. 

“The majority of us, we work in warehouses, factories. You can’t work there illegally. Obviously, we’re legally working,” he told The Columbus Dispatch. Estimable is puzzled by these rumors of pet-eating and claims that Haitians were “shipped” to Springfield and are there legally for “temporary protected status.” 

While some residents say they wish that the Haitian immigrant community was “more evenly dispersed” between Ohio counties, some declare that Haitians are easy targets for being scapegoats. 

I called Springfield Police Department and was given a referral to call City Hall to ask about the issue and if there are any credible sources of information such as phone calls that relate to witnesses stating they have seen Haitian immigrants abducting ducks and geese from the park. The individual I spoke with over the phone declared that no credible reports of the allegations have surfaced, but that they had received phone calls from Springfield residents about JD Vance appearing on CNN speaking about it. 

This led to some more research, where John Bowden of Independent wrote an article published on Sept. 15 that JD Vance seemed to admit on air in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that these statements about Haitian immigrants were false. Both Bowden and Cincinnati Enquirer journalist Erin Couch covered the story, explaining how Vance declared that his constituents have told him firsthand about the troubles in Springfield. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance stated, prompting Bash to question exactly what was said. Vance is passionate about the overpopulation taking place in Springfield when he declared, “I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield, thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies.” 

If overpopulation was the central argument to propose for Springfield, why did it lead to these allegations?

There is a video of a woman circulating around the Internet, stating that she is a Haitian woman in Springfield, who was caught on police body cam footage of her killing and eating her neighbor’s cat. Alexis Ferrell is a 27-year-old Canton, Ohio, resident. Canton is over two hours from Springfield. Amber Baker of WTRF stated that a 911 call was made from Ferrell’s cousin who saw Ferrell going live on Facebook, killing a cat and eating it. 

WHIO reported that Ferrell was born in Ohio and a 2015 graduate of Canton’s McKinley High School. She is not Haitian or of Haitian descent. News Center 7 reported these debunked rumors, but do raise concerns about the overpopulation and strain resources that the Springfield community is facing. 

The Associated Press also released a video of Springfield resident Chris Hazel, immigrant advocate Sophia Pierrilus, and Rose-Thamar Joseph who works as the secretary within the Haitian Community Help and Support Center, a non-profit organization within the city. Joseph states, “They [Haitian individuals] have fear. A lot of fears going on right now. Some of them are talking about leaving Springfield, some of them are scared for their life […] It’s a little bit tough for us.” 

With the election on its way, many see these next few months as stressful times. Flyer News is an unbiased news source for the student body that reports on news within the Dayton area and in the state of Ohio. Proximity news, such as the allegations occurring in Springfield, will be posted in order to show students what is going on within their home, even if living in Ohio is temporary. 

Posting about the allegations led to Flyer News receiving some direct messages from our Instagram account from students voicing their concerns and opinions. One very passionate student voiced their opinions about Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and rather than ignore the students and opinions, Flyer News acknowledges the different thinking and beliefs within the student body. If Flyer News was to take bias over one political party more than the other, then that would be complete disrespect for a majority of the student body. Flyer News posts news within the area to show that as a student-run organization, we see what is going on in our nation and want students to be aware and be informed.