‘Why Springfield?’ How a small Ohio city became home for thousands of Haitians

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

(CNN) — Margery Koveleski says “Why Springfield?” is something she’s been hearing a lot lately.

“Everybody asks the question,” says Koveleski, a community activist and translator in the Ohio city who’s been helping its growing Haitian population.

Springfield is now home to thousands of Haitians. Last week’s presidential debate thrust the small city into the national spotlight, prompting even more people to wonder how a Haitian community has taken root there — and why.

Here’s a look at some key questions, and the answers we know so far.

How many Haitians are living in Springfield?

There’s no official tally. Mayor Rob Rue told CNN the city’s population has grown about 25% over the past three years, in part due to the arrival of Haitian immigrants.

Between 12,000 and 15,000 immigrants are living in Clark County, which includes Springfield, according to estimates on the city’s website. Of that group, an estimated 10,000-12,000 are Haitian, according to a July presentation from the county’s health commissioner, who cited data from school and social services officials.

The 2020 Census estimated about 60,000 people were living in Springfield, and 2022 data from the American Community Survey indicated about 2% of the city’s population was born outside the US.

Did a government program send them there for resettlement?

No. Immigrants have chosen to live in Springfield due to its low cost of living and available work, according to a city website, which notes that “no government entity is responsible for the influx of Haitians into Clark County.”

“Any system is going to struggle with the rapid population growth we have seen,” Clark County Health Commissioner Chris Cook told the Springfield City Council in July as he stressed the importance of getting more resources and funding to help.

“This is not part of a federal resettlement program. … It’s not someplace it was planned, and it’s not someplace those resources initially go by policy,” he said.

So how did they end up there? And why was Springfield their destination?

Officials and Springfield residents who’ve spoken with CNN say employment opportunities and word of mouth drew an influx of immigrants to the city.

Koveleski, the interpreter and community activist in Springfield, said word that jobs were available spread quickly among Haitians’ family and friends.

“Before you know it,” she told CNN’s Omar Jimenez, “it was almost like, ‘If there’s a good Friday sale and you got a great deal at Macy’s, you tell all your friends, and the stores are packed.’”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said businesses in the area are grateful to have the help of a growing labor force.

“Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in. These Haitians came in to work for these companies,” he told ABC on Sunday. “What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy.”

Has something changed with Haitian immigration to the US?

Yes. In recent years, the number of Haitians in the US who’ve been given permission to work here legally has grown.

In January 2023, the Biden administration announced Haitians would be among a new group of nationalities eligible for a program officials hoped would create more lawful pathways into the US and decrease pressure at the border. Under the program, applicants are vetted and must have a sponsor in the United States. Approved participants are granted travel authorization and permission, known as parole, that allows them to enter the United States legally.

More than 210,000 Haitians have been paroled into the US through the program, according to data released this week by US Customs and Border Protection. And Haitians make up the largest share of participants in the program, which also provides pathways for Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

Department of Homeland Security officials have credited the program with decreasing illegal border crossings, but it’s also drawn criticism and legal challenges from Republican attorneys general who’ve argued the program itself is illegal. Officials paused the program for several weeks this summer over fraud concerns but restarted it last month, saying they’d added additional safeguards and vetting for sponsors.

Cook, the Clark County health commissioner, pointed to the parole program as one of several immigration routes the community’s Haitians had taken to the US. He also cited a family reunification program that allows lawful permanent residents and citizens to bring family members legally to the US, and to humanitarian parole granted at the border.

The Biden administration also expanded deportation protections for Haitians in the country earlier this year, estimating that about 300,000 people would be newly eligible for temporary protected status under the designation.

Has this happened before?

The situation in Springfield follows a familiar pattern, according to Julia Gelatt, associate director of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute’s US immigration policy program.

“We know that immigrants tend to move to places with economic opportunity, and then, once immigrants settle in a new destination where there are jobs and where life is good, then they tell their friends and family, whether back home or in other parts United States, and then people follow their social networks,” Gelatt said. “We’ve seen this since old European migration waves, but also more recently.”

In the 1990s, for example, tensions flared as immigrant populations seeking work moved into small towns and cities in the Southeast.

“When there’s a fast pace of change within a locality, that tends to be where we see more tensions emerge over the cost of immigration or over social differences,” she said. “The tensions that we’re seeing in Springfield, and also the patterns, are things that have played out across the United States in many periods of our country’s history.”

What’s bringing Haitian immigrants to the US?

There’s a long history of Haitian immigration to the US in response to political instability, economic crisis and natural disasters, Gelatt says. More recently, intensifying gang violence following the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president has driven many to leave the country.

“Haiti’s had severe economic challenges, and more recently, just an immense gang presence that has really threatened rule of law and safety for many people in Haiti, and disrupted the operations of many basic functions of the country,” Gelatt said.

Some more recent Haitian arrivals to the US had been living for years in South America but left the region when job opportunities dried up.

“Some Haitians who had been living in South America and had kids there and were building their lives made a secondary move to the United States, where they saw greater economic opportunity for themselves,” Gelatt said.

Is the parole program connected to similar increases in immigrant populations in other parts of the US?

It’s quite likely, given what history has shown us about immigration patterns, but we don’t yet have government data breaking down where participants in this program or their sponsors live. CNN has reached out to US Citizenship and Immigration Services to request that data.

An April report from the House Homeland Security Committee listed airports around the country where participants in the program have arrived in the US. That report, based on data from January-August 2023, listed Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and New York City as the top destinations, with a total of more than 160,000 arrivals in those airports.

The report also lists more than 50 other airports in the US and Canada connected with the program, including in Cincinnati and Columbus, but does not specify the number of arrivals in those Ohio cities.

What’s been happening in Springfield since the immigrants arrived?

Last week’s baseless comments from former President Donald Trump during the presidential debate, accusing migrants in Springfield of eating pets, drew national attention to the city. The claims have been widely discredited, but the spread of misinformation has tapped into real concerns from locals about the city’s growing pains, people living in the area told CNN.

In a July letter addressed to Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina, City Manager Bryan Heck said housing shortages have presented a “crisis” for the city as far back as 2018 and that the city’s expanding population has added stress.

DeWine, Ohio’s governor, said this week he was providing additional state support for the city to help with stress on healthcare and public safety systems due to the influx of immigrants.

But in an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” the Republican governor stressed the economic benefit the Haitian immigrants are bringing to the city.

“When you go from a population of 58,000 and add 15,000 people onto that, you’re going to have some challenges, and some problems, and we’re addressing those,” he said.

But he described the Haitian immigrants as a “positive influence.”

“People who want to work, people who value their kids, who value education, you know, these are positive influences on our community in Springfield,” he said, “and any comment about that otherwise, I think, is hurtful and is not helpful to the city of Springfield and the people of Springfield.”

CNN’s Chelsea Bailey, Omar Jimenez, Meridith Edwards, Chris Boyette, Jack Forrest and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

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