Trump faces a fact check from Ohio city thrust into spotlight

[Thiệu Ngô]

Springfield’s city manager and the father of a boy killed in a bus accident criticize assertions made by the candidates and other politicians.

By Emmy Martin

A city manager in Ohio and the father of a young boy killed in a school bus accident are pushing back on a right-wing campaign against Haitian migrants in their community that has been fueled by former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.

Bryan Heck, the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, criticized false claims about migrants, which have been spread by Trump and Vance, while Nathan Clark, whose 11-year-old was killed in an accident involving a Haitian driver last year, said both men should apologize for using his death to score political points.

“This needs to stop now,” Clark said at a public hearing Tuesday. “They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.”

Their remarks come in response to the surprising emergence of Springfield, northeast of Dayton, in the national political debate over migration after about 15,000 people from Haiti have settled in the city of less than 60,000 over the past four years.

Trump and Vance, along with other politicians and right-wing commentators have seized on the influx, as well as concerns about the strain on local schools and other resources and the accident that killed Clark’s son, to stoke broader concerns about immigration.

Trump brought up the city twice during his debate with Kamala Harris to attack the vice president on immigration policy. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in,” Trump said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

He brushed aside a fact check by debate moderator David Muir, who said Heck told the network that there were no reports that anyone’s pet had been taken. Trump’s response: “Maybe that’s a good thing to say for a city manager.”

In a video released Wednesday, Heck said Haitian migrants — who are legally in the U.S. under temporary protected status because of the upheaval in their Caribbean nation — are welcome additions to the local workforce and have helped the local economy.

“It is disappointing that some of the narrative surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle,” he said.

The influx has strained housing, school and health care resources in Springfield, while also contributing to the workforce population, Heck said.

“While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of the growth, rather than the rumors being reported,” Heck said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said he would help Springfield respond to the strain on schools, health care and law enforcement from the arrival of the migrants while state Attorney General David Yost pledged in a statement to explore legal avenues to limit the resettlement of new people in the city.

“The problem is not migrants, it is way, way too many migrants in a short period of time,” Yost said.