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Springfield, Ohio residents discuss challenges and concerns from influx of Haitian migrants
Residents of Springfield, Ohio shared their fears and concerns over an influx of Haitian migrants, including traffic safety and strained public services.
A sheriff in Ohio took to social media to issue a warning to the public that anyone who is showing support for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign could eventually house some extra guests.
In a post on his personal campaign page, Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski appeared to encourage residents to write down the addresses of supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“When people ask me…What’s gonna happen if the Flip – Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins??” Zuchowski wrote in his post. “I say….write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards!”
“Sooo…when the Illegal human ‘Locust’ (which she supports!) Need places to live…We’ll already have the addresses of the their New families…who supported their arrival!” his post continued.
SINGER JOHN LEGEND LECTURES HOMETOWN TO ‘EMBRACE’ HAITIAN MIGRANTS, DISMISSES PET-EATING CLAIMS IN OHIO CITY
Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski is telling the public to write down the addresses of Kamala Harris supporters so that those who oppose can send illegal immigrants to the supporters of Harris. (Bruce Zuchowski Facebook)
Zuchowski has been sheriff in Portage County since 2021 and has served in Ohio law enforcement for nearly three decades, according to his bio on the department’s website.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Zuchowski for comment.
The sheriff’s post comes as the city of Springfield, Ohio, has garnered national headlines in recent weeks over an influx of tens of thousands of Haitian migrants into the town of 60,000, where residents say the infrastructure doesn’t exist to care for them all and that crime has been an increasing issue.
HEAT PUSH BACK ON ‘FALSE NARRATIVE’ SURROUNDING HAITIAN MIGRANTS
People watch as Springfield Police Department officers investigate the Springfield City Hall after bomb threats were made against buildings earlier in the day in Springfield, Ohio on September 12, 2024. A government building and school were evacuated after an alleged bomb threat Thursday in Springfield, Ohio, local media reported, rattling the small city at the heart of an anti-migrant conspiracy theory amplified by Donald Trump. Springfield has been thrust into the spotlight in recent days after an unfounded story of Haitian migrants eating pets went viral on social media, with the Republican ex-president and current White House candidate pushing the narrative despite it being debunked. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s like living in a dystopian nightmare,” Springfield resident Diana Daniels told “Fox & Friends“ in a previous interview. “You hope you wake up and it’s 2019 again, and then you realize it’s 2024, and it’s the same thing over and over again, day after day. It’s hard sometimes to get up in the morning and hear residents that I’ve known for years struggle. This is a paycheck-to-paycheck… kind of town… working class. The citizens that depend on our social services like health care, the Rocking Horse [Community Health Center], going down to the Social Security office for benefits are waiting in line, and they’re not getting the services they need.”
SPRINGFIELD PASTORS SPEAK OUT ON HAITIAN REFUGEE CHALLENGES: ‘THE SUFFERING IS REAL’
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The attention on Springfield then became amplified again when Ohio Sen. JD 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, during the second presidential debate, 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.
In response to a query from Fox News Digital, local officials pushed back against the claims surfacing online.
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“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” the city said.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.