WorldNetDaily kicked off its fearmongering about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, with a falsehood-filled Sept. 10 column by Andy Schlafly:
D.C. Democrats have figured out a new way to punish Trump Country, which is small-town America favoring Donald Trump for president. Overwhelm a small town of 56,000 Americans with 20,000 Haitian migrants, as Biden-Harris has done to Springfield, Ohio, and watch conflict develop.
The liberal media deny news about this, but videos of outrage by longtime residents have gone viral on X and TikTok. Most Haitians do not know how to drive, so car accidents in this small town have caused car insurance rates to skyrocket for everyone who lives there.
There are videos of residents complaining about pets disappearing, presumably taken for food by these migrants, who reportedly also decapitate ducks in the local park. Grocery store items are being opened up and consumed right off the shelves.
A 95-pound elderly woman testified at a public hearing, which is available on video, that “it is so unsafe. I have men that cannot speak English in my front yard screaming at me, throwing mattresses in my front yard, throwing trash in my front yard.” She and her husband feel they are being forced out of their home of 45 years.
Independent journalist Tyler Oliveira has posted many video interviews of Springfield residents on X, including one viewed 1.7 million times of a black veteran explaining how he’s been unable to obtain Medicaid while social services are overwhelmed by Haitian migrants. In another video showing an hours-long waiting line for benefits, an officer estimated that the ratio during the morning is 9-to-1 Haitians compared with locals.
Biden-Harris has lavishly funded these migrants, such that landlords evict American tenants to obtain higher rent from federally subsidized Haitians.
Schlafly offered no evidence to back up his claims beyond referencing the videos by Oliveira. But it turns out he’s not trustworthy — as NPR reported, he too doesn’t verify anything people tell him, and there’s no actual evidence that Haitians are extraordinarily bad drivers. There’s also no evidence that “Biden-Harris has lavishly funded these migrants”; the immigrants come there for the low cost of living and available jobs, and employers have found them to be reliable workers. There’s also no actual evidence that Haitians are eating pets in the town, and a woman whose video promoted the hoax has apologized.
But as usual, WND is not about to let the facts get in the way of a good fearmongering. Andrew Powell contributed in a Sept. 12 article:
However, in June, the Biden administration extended temporary legal status to more than 300,000 Haitians living in the U.S. illegally, allowing them to stay and work. It wasn’t long before reports of Haitian migrants causing car wrecks, and snatching up animals, including geese, cats, dogs, and other small pets, started flooding social media.
Meanwhile, the left-wing media has been attempting to spin the migrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio, into a positive.
ABC and CNN also “fact checked” the claim that there had been a surge in Haitian migrants, deeming it “not a problem” – while Ohio’s Gov. Mike DeWine has earmarked $2.5 million to expand primary care access to everyone who lives in Springfield, and is sending in state troopers to get on top of the car wrecks being caused by unlicensed Haitian migrants.
[…]Other reports have stated Haitians are practicing voodoo, which includes animal sacrifice, during religious ceremonies, giving some credence to rumors Haitian migrants have been snatching up pets.
One American originally from Haiti confirmed Haitians are, in fact, using animals in their voodoo and witchcraft ceremonies.
But Powell made no apparent effort to verify any of these claims — he just posted online videos.
A Sept. 15 article by Joe Kovacs uncritically quoted Republican Sen. Tom Cotton repeating these claims, even after admitting he hasn’t bothered to fact-check them and attacking media outlets who did:
“Look at what’s happened in the situation in Springfield, Ohio,” Cotton continued.
“You had a town of about 58,000 Americans, and 20,000 Haitian migrants have flooded into that town in recent years. You don’t have to think that they’re all bad people or you don’t have to think that most of them are bad people to understand the severe strain it puts on the community of Springfield.
“You’ve got Haitians who don’t know how to drive causing accidents all around the roads of Springfield. They’re flooding emergency rooms and community health centers, so if your kid breaks his arm, good luck trying to find a doctor.
“The local schools have had to spend more than $400,000 on Haitian Creole translation services alone, money that could have gone for American citizens who wanted new uniforms for the football team or needed a new playground at the elementary or needed more bus transportation for the band. These are all entirely legitimate concerns that the people of Springfield have been pleading with their elected leaders in Washington to address.
“And what does the media want to do? The media wants to attack them, wants to tar them as racists and bigoted and nativists because of reports that Haitians have also been killing ducks or geese from the city pond. Credible, firsthand reports that should be investigated. I don’t know if they’re true or not, but they shouldn’t be used to dismiss all the other very legitimate concerns that the citizens of Springfield have about the illegal immigration that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have unleashed on this country.”
And, no, Kovacs couldn’t be bothered to fact-check anything Cotton said.
Schlafly returned to fearmonger about Haitians voting — again, while providing no evidence this is actually happening — in his Sept. 17 column: “Studies show that the Biden-Harris administration has been relocating the hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants to predominantly Republican states, presumably in the hope of turning them to the Democrat side.”
Laura Hollis repeated much of this in her Sept. 26 column:
Springfield, Ohio – population 58,000 – has been forced to absorb 20,000 Haitians in just a few years since President Joe Biden and Vice President (and “border czar”) Kamala Harris decided to give Haitians “temporary protected status.” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue says the city is “saturated” and has been unable to plan for or accommodate the influx of so many immigrants. Government services are stretched to the breaking point, there is a housing shortage, 2,000 of Springfield’s 7,000 public school students do not speak English, and the school district does not have English as a Second Language programs, leaving teachers unprepared and overwhelmed. Private organizations are also challenged; Springfield’s hospitals are spending up to $50,000 a month on translation services for Haitian patients.
But the expenses of Springfield, Ohio, are dwarfed by those of our larger cities and more populated states.
We’ve already noted how the Media Research Center praised J.D. Vance for spreading lies about the Haitian immigrants in Ohio.