Springfield flashpoint: How one Ohio town's experience with immigration has captivated the nation’s attention

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Former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler discusses the migrant influx in Springfield, Ohio

Former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler argued that cultural misunderstandings are to blame for most of the strife between locals and refugees in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - An Ohio town has been thrust into the national spotlight over the last week after separate but similar claims made by vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance and former President Donald Trump, making the town an unexpected flashpoint ahead of November’s election.

Springfield, Ohio, located roughly 50 miles east of Columbus, bears many of the trademarks of a typical Midwestern town, with a strong history of manufacturing followed by a period of decline that has become a familiar story for many cities just like it.

But Springfield has become one of the most unique towns in the country in recent years, with a flood of migrants from Haiti resettling in the city and suddenly reversing decades of population decline.

Estimates vary on just how many Haitian migrants have moved to Springfield over the last few years, but most settle somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000, a huge population boom for a town that the 2020 census showed had under 60,000 residents. Many of those migrants have come to the U.S. with temporary protected status, allowing them the ability to live and work in the U.S. for a limited amount of time.

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Sign welcoming motorists to city of Springfield, Ohio. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)

However, as more and more refugees came to the city, tensions between the local population and the sudden burst of newcomers started to bubble to the surface. Those tensions flared most after an October incident last year, which saw a school bus carrying dozens of children collide with a minivan, injuring many of the students on the bus and killing one, 11-year-old Aiden Clark.

Longtime locals have since continued to voice their frustrations, appearing at city council meetings with complaints about unsafe road conditions they claim is due to the influx of drivers unfamiliar with local laws and norms.

The attention on Springfield then became amplified more this week, first when Vance took to X to claim that people in the city have had their "pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country." 

A day later while giving an answer on immigration and border security, Trump similarly claimed that Haitian refugees in Springfield are "eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats."

"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," Trump said in the response.

Rose Groute Creole Restaurant in Springfield, Ohio, a popular Haitian food establishment that opened in August 2023.

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To date, such claims have not been verified and local officials in Springfield have forcefully denied such incidents have taken place. Nevertheless, the claims have shined an even brighter light on the Ohio town.

Still, struggles remain as the town continues to adapt to its new reality. Former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler, a Republican who represented Springfield and is now seeking a seat in the State Senate to represent the same area, acknowledged that the influx of newcomers has come as a bit of a shock to the city.

"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," Koehler told Fox News Digital.

Koehler chalked up the disconnect to a difference of cultures, arguing the sudden collision between longtime locals and refugees from another country has "caused some issues."

Former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler (Fox News)

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"They don’t understand the laws, they don’t understand some of our customs, we don’t understand some of their customs, and that clash and the overwhelming amount of people that have come at one point has really caused some issues," Koehler said.

But Koehler also stressed how hospitable Springfield’s residents are and argued that the town has much to offer.

"We have a wonderful town," Koehler said.