Ohio city battling housing crisis stemming from Haitian migrant surge
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue and city manager Bryan Heck joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss how the immigration surge has impacted the city's ability to function and the broader need for federal assistance.
Springfield, Ohio is struggling with the influx of 15,000-20,000 Haitian migrants over the last few years into their community of about 58,000.
"This border crisis, the policy of this administration, is failing cities like ours and taxing us beyond our limit," said Springfield Mayor Rob Rue on "Fox & Friends First."
Rue described the wave of Haitian migrants into the area as a "quick increase" to the population just over the last five years.
"This has overwhelmed safety services and caused great concern for our community," he said.
City Manager Bryan Heck added that the city does not have the capacity to sustain this pace of illegal immigration.
CHINESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SURGE AT US BORDER ‘PROVES OUT WORST FEARS’: LAWMAKERS
Migrants at the front of the line are processed for entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)
"It's taxing our infrastructure. It's taxing public safety. It's taxing our schools. It's taxing health care…it's taxing our housing," he said.
Heck explained how the city experienced a housing crisis prior to the surge and said this "made it a hundred times worse."
"It's setting communities like Springfield up to fail. And, we do not have the capacity to sustain it, and, without additional federal assistance or support, communities like Springfield will fail."
Heck said federal funding and support are tied to population numbers and the influx is not "captured by the federal government."
"Federal funding has actually been reduced over the last couple of years…so that's concerning to us as a community, because certainly adding 15 to 20,000, we need additional support, we need additional resources," he explained.
Heck added that the federal government does not know where these migrants go when they cross the border, but they end up in communities like Springfield.
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Rue said both Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, brought light to this issue in D.C.
According to ABC 7, Heck sent a letter to Senators Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, requesting federal aid.
Vance mentioned the letter during a Senate Banking Committee meeting to bring up how the influx is affecting housing affordability and availability in Springfield.
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