Springfield, Ohio – Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno criticized the Biden administration, arguing that the problems facing residents of this city can be traced back to the policies of Washington, DC.
Moreno, who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, spoke at an event in the city that has recently become the center of the national debate over immigration. Residents say the federal government’s decision to settle some 20,000 Haitian immigrants in the city of 60,000 has caused widespread problems.
“What is happening in this community is a total disgrace,” Moreno said. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, with the help of their number one ally in the United States Senate, Sherrod Brown, have completely corrupted our immigration laws to allow a massive and uncontrolled amount of immigration to come to a community like Springfield.”
The Buckeye State’s other senator, JD Vance, who is running for vice president, has also spoken out on the issue since former President Donald Trump raised it during his debate earlier this week against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There are reports showing that people have had their pets kidnapped and eaten by people who should not be in this country,” Vance wrote in a post on X this week. “Where is our border czar?”
Haitian refugees ‘don’t understand the laws,’ says former legislator amid fatal crash, cultural clashes
Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno holds an event in downtown Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 14, 2024. (Fox News – Michael Lee)
“They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the people that came here, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said in response to a question about immigration. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a disgrace.”
While Trump and Vance’s claims have not been proven, there is no doubt that Springfield is struggling to absorb the influx of Haitian immigrants. According to former Ohio state Rep. Kyle Koehler, that has caused some problems in the community.
“We’ve had an influx of people coming in, and I think we were a little surprised that it was close to 20,000 people in a community of 60,000, and that’s caused some issues between the people who live here and the people who are coming in,” Koehler, a Republican now running for state Senate, told Fox News Digital.
Koehler noted that many of the problems can be attributed to cultural differences, which have been difficult to overcome when the number of new people arriving in Springfield is so high. However, the Republican also mentioned other problems facing the community, including a dramatic increase in traffic accidents.
Sign welcoming motorists to the city of Springfield, Ohio. (Michael Lee/Fox News Digital)
Springfield pastors speak out on challenges facing Haitian refugees: ‘The suffering is real’
“We have a really abnormal amount of traffic accidents,” Koehler said. “And it’s not just the amount, it’s the severity of them. When you’re driving down a street where the speed limit is 35 mph and there’s a car sitting on its hood — and I’m not talking about one, but about five or six of those accidents a week — you start to wonder.”
Moreno highlighted other issues facing the community during her Saturday event, pointing to schools that have struggled to handle the surge of new non-English speaking students.
“No country in the world would allow what is happening here to happen,” Moreno said.
The Senate candidate has vowed to help fix the immigration system if elected, and promised he would work to end the Temporary Protected Status program, which has been a major driver of migration to Springfield, by letting it expire in 2026 while he institutes a new program with stricter requirements.
“Our leaders have failed to address this problem,” Moreno said, responding to Brown’s comments, who accused Republicans of using the Springfield situation for political gain. “Where is Sherrod Brown, by the way? Where is he helping the citizens of Springfield solve this problem?”
Rose Groute Creole Restaurant in Springfield, Ohio, a popular Haitian food establishment that opened in August 2023.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Moreno also argued that it was not the fault of migrants or local leaders in Springfield that the situation in the city had reached this point, pointing instead to Democrats in Washington.
“They didn’t cause this problem. It wasn’t a fair problem,” Moreno said. “This was forced on them by corrupt federal elected leaders who didn’t care about the people of Springfield.”
