An Ohio town that has seen its population swell with thousands of Haitian refugees has had to battle differences in culture and even driving practices as it adjusts to its new reality.
An Ohio town that has seen its population swell with thousands of Haitian refugees has had to battle differences in culture and even driving practices as it adjusts to its new reality.
“We’ve got an influx of folks that have come in, and I think we were a little bit shocked that it was close to 20,000 people in a community of 60,000, and that’s caused some issues between the folks that live here and the folks that are coming in,” former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler told Fox News Digital.
The comments come as Springfield, which is located roughly 50 miles west of Columbus, has entered the national spotlight in recent weeks, most recently when former President Donald Trump pointed to the town during one of his responses in Tuesday’s debate.
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said during a response to a question about immigration. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
The issue has also caught the attention of Ohio Republican senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who argued that the Biden administration’s “open border” policies “have flooded Springfield, Ohio, with thousands of illegal Haitians who are sucking up social services and destroying a small town here in Ohio.
