Left-wing media outlets have been quick to downplay the reports of Springfield, Ohio, being overrun by Haitian immigrants. A CNN panelist accused those who are saying the small town is experiencing an unprecedented amount of illegal aliens of “dehumanizing” immigrants.
Host Abby Phillip echoed a similar narrative being pushed by Democrats: There is no evidence of an influx of Haitian immigrants in Springfield. However, the Ohio town has seen over 20,000 immigrants in a city of less than 60,000 residents who have invaded it in recent years. According to several reports, Haitian immigrants are eating pets.
“I haven‘t seen any evidence that there’s any dead cats or dogs at the hands of anyone, any human, much less these migrants who are, like you said, here, legally,” Former Trump Administration official Tricia McLaughlin said. “Some of these citizens have testified in front of the city council saying that there’s … it’s really chaos at that there has been cars burning, cars flipped that they feel unsafe in their community, keep in mind this is just failed federal policy.”
These are the facts: 20k migrants were dropped into a town of 60k people in less than 3 years. Springfield’s medical systems, schools, social services & housing infrastructure are not setup for such a drastic population increase. Yes, the infrastructure is being *overrun.* To say… pic.twitter.com/m0RL1uGEVO
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) September 14, 2024
Phillip accused the Republican panel of “playing on racist tropes” and said that using words like “overrun” was “part of the problem.”
McLaughlin defended her statement by echoing the claims residents have been saying.
“Listen to these people’s concerns. I don’t think it’s fair to pick apart rhetoric when these people are having real problems,” she snapped back.
Meanwhile, Natasha Alford, senior correspondent for TheGrio, chimed in, claiming that the Ohio residents “have been primed to use language like that.” She then accused former President Donald Trump of “fearmongering” people into “thinking” there is an issue at the border.
“They’ve been listening to this, hear me out, they’ve been listening to a president who has been fearmongering, scapegoating these individuals, these communities, playing on racist tropes, think about s-hole countries that were talked about, Alford said. “Those were countries with predominantly black and brown people, and one of them was Haiti.”