At the 2020 Census, Springfield, Ohio boasted around 60,000 inhabitants. 

A few years ago Haitian immigrants started being relocated to the community in the west central part of the state.

Now, every fourth person residing in Springfield is a Haitian immigrant. 

State Rep. Bernard Willis (R-Springfield) said crimes, such as human trafficking, associated with the recent resettlement of Haitians in the area, are becoming more problematic. 

"The uptick in a lot of our crime really has been around the community," Willis stated. "It hasn't been more Haitians now creating a crime wave. It has been the crimes around that like…human trafficking and just exploitation on all kinds of different levels. But around that is an uptick that there's a few particular investigations with some federal agencies that are looking into some very nefarious activities."

In fact, Willis said the Haitian community has been “outstanding” addition, but questioned the policies that resulted in the refugees being resettled in Springfield without local input or adequate resources.

“Springfield would love to have had this same population coming to us with a planning period and the ability to get funding and grants and things set up so that that is a smooth transition and the integration goes well,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Ohio’s human trafficking problem has gotten noticeably worse in recent years. 

Over a decade, Ohio experienced a significant 43% rise in human trafficking prosecutions from 2011 to 2021. 

Statewide, referrals for human trafficking offenses increased by 49% in 2021 compared to a decade prior, with prosecutions more than doubling over the same period.

Although there are those working on human trafficking locally, such as Springfield-based Project Woman in Clark County which recently received nearly $200,000, funding and impact of such groups is limited. 

In response to these concerns, Willis highlighted ongoing legislative efforts aimed at mitigating these issues, including increasing law enforcement assets.  

"As we can help them with those remedies at the state level to potentially get to where we are doing exactly that we're picking up the people on crimes and they're in a protected status and that needs to turn into some kind of remedy that puts them out of the population here," he said. 

Willis acknowledged the strain on local resources due to rapid demographic changes.  

"We don't have enough law enforcement to go around when you add another third of your population over a couple of years," he said. 

Jeannette Chu, executive chair of the Republican Party of Clark County, also underscored the impact of demographic changes in Springfield, noting a visible increase in Haitian immigrants across various community settings.

"You just go places and you start to notice that there are more and more people there speaking a different language," Chu told Federal Newswire. "It becomes everywhere you go in the restaurants, you go to the banks, you go to the grocery store. You just see them walking along the street. It's just obvious – there is no denying that there has been some sort of change that has happened in Clark County."

Chu expressed deep concern over the implications of this demographic shift, particularly regarding crime. 

"There are a lot of people reporting that they were at the Walmart and they were followed and they went to their car and there was a van there and they immediately felt unsafe," she said. 

In response to these reported incidents, Chu has taken personal precautions. 

"I have forbidden my daughters to go to any of those places without being escorted by another person. So we never heard that happening in Springfield before," she said. 

Chu lamented the shift in safety concerns. 

"We're just doing our thing. And then all of a sudden, you have to be fearful of being trafficked when you go to the local Walmart or one of those places that has never happened before," she said. 

Some in the community have shared distressing reports in regard to the criminal treatment some of the immigrants have allegedly been subjected to and engaged in.

"I've been told some of the stories of 10 males and one woman with a child in an apartment, and the woman and the child, the baby, repeatedly raped until the point that the child had to be removed for safety. And it's like, why does something like that happen?” Chu said.

Federal policy failures are behind these challenges, Chu notes.  

"It's a direct correlation to open borders,” he said. “There's no other way around it. You have to call it what it is. This is a failure to control the southern border and to allow all these people to come into these communities across the United States."

Chu’s commentary was recently echoed by Springfield Mayor Rob Rue who told WSYX-TV the resettlement efforts have strained municipal resources.  

"We're seeing anywhere between 15 and 20,000 immigrants within our community," Springfield Rue said. "Our police and fire departments are staffed for 60,000 people. We need to hire 10 to 15 more in each of the departments. So we're not budgeted for that. Our school systems are strained, our healthcare system strained.” 

Roux, who has enlisted the help of GOP vice presidential candidate Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance attributed the resource challenges to what he described as broken immigration policies at the national level. 

"We're not picking on a party. We're saying the policy's broken, the policy needs fixing, and it's hurting cities like ours," Roux said.