I doubt that many people in the United States had ever heard of Springfield, Ohio until Donald Trump brought up the city in his debate with Kamala Harris last week.
Of course, if you are a regular BeeLine reader you already knew about "The Sad Story of Springfield, Ohio". Six weeks ago I wrote about the plight of this small town of 58,000 trying to deal with the influx of 20,000 Haitian migrants into the city over the last several years.
This is what I wrote in that blog post six weeks ago.
In the last five years an estimated 15,000-20,000 Haitian migrants have settled in Springfield, Ohio.
Over 15,000 Haitians move into a city of 58,000 within a few years time?
I was shocked recently when I heard this fact about what has happened to Springfield.
I don't know how any city could absorb the influx of an increase in its population by almost one-third within five years without causing major disruptions to the quality of life of its citizens.
It is even worse when the influx involves people with no shared language, culture or values.
How is any city supposed to deal with this?
What made the Springfield story stand out in the debate was Trump referencing various reports of migrants stealing and eating dogs, cats, geese and ducks which apparently is part of the culture in Haiti.
ABC News moderator David Muir quickly pushed back on Trump's statements on the pets stating they had checked with the city manager of Springfield who said that they have no reports of that taking place.
I don't know whether those claims are true or not but I have seen the same videos that Trump must have seen of Springfield, Ohio residents talking about the situation there.
You also have to wonder what would be the motivation of a Springfield resident to lie about something like this? On the other hand, the city manager might have plenty of reasons to avoid confirming the story,
I do know the following.
Trump's line about Springfield and the fact check by Muir was probably the most memorable exchange during the entire debate.
My guess is that more people remember that about the debate than anything else that was said.
Does anyone remember much of anything that Kamala Harris said during the debate?
Yes, she was polished and prepared. However, was there anything of substance Kamala said that voters will remember in two weeks?
I also know that it is difficult to evaluate the impact of a debate until a week or so after the event. You need that amount of time to see how the narratives from the debate settle in.
Let's put aside the claims about eating dogs, cats, ducks and geese.
The important point here is that the sad story of Springfield, Ohio was introduced to most voters for the first time at the Trump/Harris debate.
The sensational reports may be proven false. The Democrats and the media who claim that Trump's claim is "baseless" may be right. The claim might be unconfirmed but it is hardly "baseless" in that it came from reports of residents. There is also plenty of evidence that this is consistent with the culture in Haiti.
However, bear in mind that it would only take one concrete example of the Haitians eating pets and Trump will be proven right on this issue and the perception of who won the debate will turn against Kamala.
Time will tell.
You don't have to have pets, ducks and geese disappearing in Springfield to know that something is seriously wrong about the situation in that city due to the policies of Biden/Harris the last four years.
What is not in dispute is what has happened in Springfield as a result of the influx of Haitian migrants.
There are hard facts to back that up.
Housing costs have skyrocketed with the influx. Rents have outpaced the national averages over the last two years by a considerable margin.
This is despite the fact that many houses or apartments may be housing 20 Haitians sleeping on cots.
Crime is up.
As one example, there were 14 reported rapes in Springfield in 2019. In 2022, there were 58.
The 2022 crime rate (the most recent year available) is higher than 97.9% of U.S. cities.
What will the 2023/2024 numbers look like?
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| Source: https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Springfield-Ohio.html |
The Springfield, Ohio school district has about 7,000 students.
1,600 are non-English speaking according to this report by WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio.
That number was 250 in 2017.
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| Credit: https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1833187536560177650 |
As educators must devote time and money to support these non-English speaking students it inevitably takes away from the other students in the district.
The Springfield school district was already financially challenged to begin with.
Over half of the students are minorities and 76% are Medicaid eligible.
These students need all the help they can get in the classroom and this invasion of migrants in their schools is going to create even more disadvantages for them.
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| Credit: https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1833187536560177650 |
In 2020 (the first year of Covid) the local hospital and health care clinic treated 71 immigrant patients during the year.
Between 2022-2004 that number grew to 7,334.
This data is from the City of Springfield.
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| Source: https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1835047184049532988/photo/1 |
There are reports that the streets in Springfield have become like a war zone due to the number of Haitian migrants driving vehicles with no training and no knowledge of the motor vehicle laws.
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| Source: https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/us-news/influx-of-wild-driving-haitian-migrants-turning-streets-of-springfield-ohio-into-combat-zone/ |
Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.
“There must be eight to 10 accidents a day here,” one resident who asked not to be named told The Post.
“I’ve seen cars drive up into buildings and onto sidewalks. I believe everyone deserves help, but we shouldn’t be providing cars and licenses until people know how to drive here safely.”
Longtime residents say the immigrants are getting temporary driving permits without having to learn how to drive safely in the US — or even knowing how to drive at all.
On social media, residents have posted alarming footage showing cars in ditches, smashed up at intersections, flying across the road into oncoming traffic, and even crashed through homes and businesses.
Why was the Springfield, Ohio story the one thing that was "sticky" after the debate?
I think it is because it is easy for everyone to say to themselves, "That could be my town."
How would it feel if it was your rent exploding because of these migrants or your schools and health care services were being overwhelmed?
The reality is that these forces are in play all over the nation but it is not as blatant as what we see in the microcosm that is Springfield, Ohio.
It is happening around everyone but many don't make the connection between illegal immigration and rising housing prices, inflation, strained medical services and schools and increased pressure on our environment and infrastructure.
It is popular to talk about the need for sustainability today. However, there is nothing that is worse for sustainability in the United States than the the addition of 10+ million illegal immigrants entering the United States in several years that no one planned on being here.
For example, consider this chart comparing the number of births in the United States with the illegal aliens who entered the country but were not expelled over the last four years.
In total, we have seen as many illegals enter the country as the number of US births over the last two years.
For a good part of last year, more illegals were entering the country than the number of births in the United States.
The contrast to when Trump was President is striking.
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| Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1835120548398891505/photo/1 |
As population increases through births we have years or even decades to make the necessary additions to medical and education services, housing and infrastructure due to the population increase.
That is not the case with illegal immigration.
Over time, more and more of the United States will increasingly feel the effects of illegal immigration and the orchestrated migrant invasion that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have unleashed on the nation over the last four years.
The immigration laws were established to provide order for our society. The laws were considered necessary to provide for the entrance of an established number of immigrants annually that could be assimilated without disrupting and degrading the experience of U.S. citizens and others who are rightfully here.
The compounding effects of uncontrolled immigration is the reason that the immigration laws were put on the books in the first place.
When the law is ignored or not enforced, chaos is sure to follow due to the compounding effects of large numbers of people the society is not prepared for.
Adding too many immigrants, too quickly, puts added pressure on the social order if those immigrant numbers outpace the ability to integrate and assimilate them into the general population.
Too many immigrants puts too much strain on our resources. It puts unnecessary strain on everything in our society---our water, our sewer systems, our roads, the electric grid, our infrastructure and our environment. It contributes to congestion and urban sprawl.
Add to this what it does to increase the financial strain on our schools and our health system and cost pressure on rents and housing costs, not to mention our law enforcement and justice system.
What happens when AI and technology displaces many of the jobs that low-skilled immigrants are likely to hold? Are we importing a gigantic permanent underclass that will have to be supported by welfare and tax dollars for years and years to come?
Is this the underlying reason that Democrats have embraced open borders? Importing large number of people who will be dependent on the government for support provides future votes to support the Democrat party agenda.
If you want to dismiss that last suggestion just consider where the federal government has settled the over 400,000 Haitian migrants that have entered the country the last few years.
81% went to states that voted for Trump.
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| Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1834995793540903329 |
Is that just a coincidence?
It is not just Haiti either. The chart looks similar (just a lot more migrants) when you add in those coming from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
We are talking 1 million illegals from these four countries in just the last 12 months.
We have seen that much from these four countries alone in the last 12 months.
And almost all of them are being settled in states that voted for Trump?
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| Source: https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1835061741883212208 |
My suggestion is for Trump/Vance to have a town hall meeting in Springfield (It is not an original idea of mine. Others have also suggested this.) and primarily use it to listen to what long term residents of the city have to say about what is happening around them.
Let the rest of the country hear it as well.
Trump and Vance can support what the residents are concerned about in Springfield by preparing real facts and data in charts similar to what I have shown above. In that way the "fact checking" is already done for the media.
Most importantly, make sure that the voters know who is responsible for what has happened to Springfield, Ohio---Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and the Democrat party.
It is hard to blame the Haitians wanting to get out of the hell-hole they live in.
However, how does it makes sense to create a similar situation in Springfield, Ohio, or in any other city or town in the United States, while our own citizens struggle?
The road to The White House in this election may run through Springfield, Ohio if Trump and Vance can use its sad story so that voters can understand how unsustainable all of this illegal immigration is and the compounding effects that it will inevitably have on every voting citizen in the United States.
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