2024-09-10 07:30:02
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (TND) — Several residents of Springfield, Ohio last month decried the growing presence of migrants in their community during meetings of the Springfield City Commission.
Springfield has recently taken centerstage in the immigration debate as the city attempts to accommodate a significant influx of migrants from Haiti. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, drilled Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in July over the potential economic repercussions of such a move.
“In my conversations with folks in Springfield, it’s not just housing,” the senator said. “They’re trying to build 5000 new housing units, which is a very Herculean task in a town of about 55,000 people, but it’s also hospital services, it’s school services. There are a whole host of ways in which this immigration problem, I think, is having very real human consequences.”
One resident, who the commission referred to as Noel, told members during an August 13 meeting she felt “so unsafe” due to the number of homeless migrants arriving in her neighborhood. These individuals, she said, often camped out on her lawn.
“I have men that cannot speak English in my front yard screaming at me, throwing mattresses in my front yard, throwing trash in my front yard,” Noel said.
“Look at me, I weigh 95 pounds,” she said. “I couldn’t defend myself if I had to.”
Noel said she and her husband decided to leave their home of 45 years due to the conditions created by the squatters.
“I don’t understand what you expect of us as citizens,” Noel said. “Who’s protecting us if we’re protecting them? Who’s protecting me?”
“I want out of this town,” she added. “Please give me a reason to stay.”
Lonnie Cole Jr. told the commission during an August 27 meeting he was frustrated by the migrants who appeared to be circumventing U.S. immigration procedures.
“There are proper channels through which to become an American citizen,” he said. “The only people who don’t take the proper channels are people that would never make it through the front door, that don’t deserve to be here.”
He called on the commission to stop offering handouts to migrants who “don’t want to fight for their own freedoms at home.”
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