SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Residents of a southwestern, suburban Ohio town did not hesitate to blame the Biden-Harris administration and officials all the way down to City Hall for their community’s ongoing migrant crisis.
The people living in Springfield, Ohio, have been subject to extensive national media attention after salacious allegations of Haitian migrants eating pet animals went viral. While locals who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation in Springfield this week say they have not witnessed such acts taking place, they do say there is a serious migrant crisis in their community, and they are faulting a slate of political leaders for their woes.
The enormous wave of media attention on Springfield began several days ago when a local social media post claimed a pet cat was found hanging on a tree branch near a Haitian immigrant’s house, and being butchered for consumption. Allegations of Haitians eating pet animals was further amplified when President Donald Trump mentioned the situation during the presidential debate on Tuesday.
While a recording of a phone call to police about Haitians in the town allegedly carrying dead geese has surfaced, Springfield police did issue a statement that they have received no reports of pet animals being eaten. Locals who spoke with the DCNF said they have not witnessed anyone eating pet dogs or cats, but they were quick to say that the arrival of roughly 20,000 Haitian nationals in a few short years has created logistical nightmares for a town of just under 60,000 residents.
“They opened up our borders and are flying them here,” Daryl Summers, a local of Springfield, said of the Biden-Harris administration and his belief that the White House is largely to blame for the crisis his town is experiencing.
Summers noted media reports of around 20,000 Haitians in the town, but he says he personally believes the real number to be substantially higher. He also said he is working on forming a group with other locals to help make sure vulnerable individuals feel more safe when they are out in public.
A local woman who spoke to the DCNF said she now, as a matter of policy, never goes out into the local grocery store without her husband, and she wished not to be identified for fear of any retribution for speaking out about Springfield’s problems.
Another resident was more direct in naming who in the Biden-Harris administration is responsible for Springfield’s woes.
“Obviously Biden, Mayorkas and Harris,” Mark Sanders told the DCNF, referring to President Joe Biden, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The border is wide open,” Sanders continued. “Many of the executive orders that were in place when [Biden] took his oath he undid within hours, so he swung the doors open. He created the pathway.”