The American Immigration Council does not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office. We aim to provide an analysis of the election’s impact on the U.S. immigration system.
Twenty years ago, Springfield, Ohio, had a problem. Like many communities in the Rust Belt, it seemed as if the good times were behind us. Once a manufacturing center, the city had been experiencing a decline in population for decades due to rising unemployment and declining incomes. City leaders set out to turn things around, developing strategies to attract all kinds of businesses to the city. By all accounts, this strategy was a success. A new, larger hospital was built in the city in 2008, bringing 1,800 new jobs. In 2011, a local university, Clark State University, built a large new conference center. Since then, millions of dollars have been poured into downtown revitalization, high-tech companies have moved into the area and opened new manufacturing plants, and in recent years local retail downtown has begun to flourish. But success also came with new challenges. As new businesses flowed into town, the demand for labor increased significantly, and the local labor supply became insufficient.
Enter immigration. Around 2013-2014, Haitian immigrants began arriving in town to fill job openings. They found a community with a lower cost of living, more jobs, and a higher quality of life. The first people to settle in the town told their hometowns about Springfield. Over the next decade, by personal decision rather than government action, more and more Haitian immigrants came to town to fill job openings and work hard in their new communities. This organic process has grown in recent years, not only as the situation in Haiti has become more dire and the Biden administration creating new legal avenues for Haitians to flee their collapsing country, but also as demand for labor in Springfield has increased. As it continued to do so, it accelerated. As of today, Springfield officials say there are between 12,000 and 20,000 Haitian immigrants living in the area, nearly all of whom have some form of legal status.
In many ways, Springfield is a success story. With so many new people coming to the area, population decline is being reversed and the city is helping to begin a new chapter. In recent years, the city’s wage growth has been higher than the rest of Ohio and the rest of the nation. One local pastor told NBC News: “The real story is, we’ve been a shrinking city for 80 years, and now we’re growing.”
Of course, scaling things up this much in a short period of time creates some friction. Home prices have been rising in the city in recent months as home construction struggles to keep up with population growth. There are also very serious concerns about the cost to local schools and government offices of having to hire Haitian Creole interpreters. Many Haitians who enter the country through the parole program are also eligible for need-based benefits and temporary resettlement assistance during their first year of arrival, thanks to the Cuban/Haitian Immigration Assistance Act of 1980. The city has asked the federal government for more financial aid, and the state government has stepped up in recent months.
These challenges are serious, but they can be effectively addressed through meaningful policies and practices by local, state, and federal governments. These are also the kinds of challenges a growing community wants. It has been so successful in reversing population decline and economic decline that local infrastructure has yet to catch up. As Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine has emphasized to the public, more Haitians coming to Springfield is a positive. Please tell me that [the recent Haitian arrivals] Very good worker. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, it’s helped the economy. ”
What’s happening in Springfield is happening across the state of Ohio. Ohio is home to approximately 600,000 immigrants, and 5% of the state is foreign-born. An analysis of census data by the American Immigration Council shows that Ohio’s immigrants pay $7 billion in taxes annually, have $18.6 billion in purchasing power, and stimulate the local economy. Immigrants in Ohio also help create new jobs, with an estimated more than 37,000 immigrant entrepreneurs starting businesses in the state.
Unfortunately, these success stories have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks after one woman’s Facebook post was quickly debunked and then publicly apologized for being a mistake. It has been overshadowed by Field’s outbursts of abuse against the Haitian community. Days after anti-immigrant rhetoric amplified during the presidential debate, bomb threats began coming in against Springfield schools, universities, hospitals, businesses and government agencies. Far-right influencers have descended on Springfield, including the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, the Proud Boys, and even an existing chapter of the KKK, which handed out fliers calling for “mass deportation.” Understandably, many in the community, Haitians and non-Haitians alike, fear that hateful rhetoric could bring violence into their communities.
There is no doubt that the federal government, state governments, and Congress can do more to help growing communities like Springfield with rapidly growing immigrant populations. Recent proposals introduced in Congress would create a Destination Reception Services program that would help places like Springfield with federal grants and other aid to help local budgets as immigrants settle and become part of their communities. The goal is to limit the impact on
Federal aid for growing pains would help reduce friction between new immigrants and other local residents. But inciting hatred based on urban legends and crude stereotypes does not help our community grow. As a nation, we would benefit most if we were able to understand and acknowledge the extent to which immigrants contribute to our communities, and to come together to address the challenges that host communities are experiencing. It’s about celebrating the fact that a rising tide lifts all ships. In Springfield and across Ohio, immigrants have made our communities larger than before, but we cannot allow the loudest and angriest voices to drown out that truth.
Areas: Economy, Haiti, Ohio, Taxes
