FINDLAY, Ohio —
Ohio has been getting national attention after false claims of immigrants in the city of Springfield, near Dayton, harming and eating pets have proliferated, especially during Tuesday night's presidential debate.
Gov. Mike DeWine said at a news conference on Thursday that Springfield is not the only Ohio city dealing with an influx of Haitian migrants, naming Lima and Findlay, too.
Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn said that over the past two years, around 1,000 Haitian migrants have moved into the area. She said although there have been a few challenges, the situation is not unique to the city.
"Haitians are going across the country," Muryn said. "They're fleeing their country at a very high rate, given the current political environment."
Unrest in Haiti is causing people to leave and come to America. Muryn added that most of the migrants are coming to the country legally.
"The immigrants that we're seeing are coming through the federal process, whether that's temporary protected status or they have been here and have a specific work visas," she said.
The mayor said many of the migrants are staying in hotels, too, because housing in Findlay isn't available.
"I don't expect the number to grow significantly," Muryn said. "In Springfield, there was a larger amount of housing available, and so I think that that really grew their population quickly."
Muryn also said there has not been an increase in crimes.
"We have actually seen a significant decrease in drug overdoses and other crime which we regularly saw at the hotels which are now occupied by our immigrant population," Muryn said in a letter to the community on Thursday.
The mayor said there has been an increase in minor traffic violations, though.
"Folks driving really, really slow or taking left turns from lanes that you're not supposed to take a left turn from," she said. "We have not seen a significant increase. We've had some of our law enforcement out doing education."
Muryn said the language barrier has been another issue, whether it be through communicating with first responders, in court or at schools. She said the libraries and mission organizations have been providing language classes.
The mayor added the schools already had English as a Second Language programs, but they had to scale up.
Muryn said she has heard fears from residents, something that Baldemar Velasquez, the president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, said has always been an issue with any new wave of immigrants.
"There was the Germans at one time," Velasquez said. "It was the Italians at another time. Then it's the Mexicans, and now it's people from other countries. I think those cultures that they bring with them only enriches our country."
Muryn said DeWine has been a great resource, and the plan is to continue working with the state and federal government to determine how the city can get support.
Muryn said as for residents, the goal is to reduce any misinformation.
"I think that that's something that we need to continue to reiterate, especially now that the national rhetoric has really amplified fear, rather than I believe accuracy," she said.
Velasquez reiterated the importance of fact-checking.
"Don't believe the narratives that people, particularly politicians who want to use it for a political advantage, say," Velasquez said. "Get the facts. Get the truth."