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On Sunday, we saw two Ohio Republicans weigh in on immigration and how it relates to the situation in Springfield, the city that has found itself in the national spotlight.
One of them, vice presidential candidate JD Vance, represents the present and the future of the GOP. The other, Gov. Mike DeWine, seems like a relic from times past.
Vance, who earlier this week amplified made-up stories about Haitian migrants stealing and eating cats, went on three talk shows and was unapologetic for his role in spreading misinformation that has resulted in bomb threats to city hall and two elementary schools.
Springfield’s Republican mayor Rob Rue directly blamed his own party’s leaders for these threats.
“All these federal politicians that have negatively spun our city, they need to know they’re hurting our city, and it was their words that did it,” Rue told a local news station.
Instead of acknowledging that his words had consequences, Vance was combative and picked fights with the journalists questioning him about his false statements.
He also said that, in order to put a spotlight on the immigration policies of the current administration, he would resort to “[creating] stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”
Clearly, neither Vance nor GOP nominee Donald Trump will allow facts to get in the way of those stories… and it’s not as though they don’t know the truth.
Rue said his office had reached out to the campaign to set the record straight.
Even setting aside that pet-eating idiocy Trump and Vance have been peddling, Springfield seems like an odd choice for their anti-immigration rhetoric.
First of all, the large numbers of Haitians in the city are there legally, which means that Vance’s “open border” rhetoric is completely misplaced.
In addition, those who actually understand the situation — some of them Republicans — have pointed out that the migrants have helped rejuvenate Springfield.
At the same time, the influx of a large number of people has also caused some problems.
This complex reality is the real story… and it represents a microcosm of immigration in the United States that is neither black nor white.
DeWine is one of the people who understands that. However, his nuanced take on the situation seems oddly out of place in his own party.
“What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in,” DeWine said on ABC’s This Week in highlighting the contributions of migrants. “These Haitians came in to work for these companies. What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there. And, frankly, that’s helped the economy.”
That being said, the sudden growth in the population has also posed challenges.
DeWine specifically pointed out that the city’s primary medical care system is taxed because the population has swelled, and because the new arrivals often lack vaccinations because they come from a country with very poor healthcare.
Another issue is road safety. It is very easy to get a driver’s license in Ohio, which means a lot of inexperienced drivers are on the road.
“We have Haitians who, frankly, many times have not driven before,” DeWine noted, adding that his staff and Springfield officials are working on this problem.
But it doesn’t help when top Republicans are spreading lies.
“[The Haitian migrants are] people who want to work, people who value their kids, who value education, you know, these are positive influences on our community in Springfield,” the governor said. “And any comment about that otherwise I think is hurtful and is not helpful to the city of Springfield and the people of Springfield.”
It’s truly sad that DeWine’s sensible approach to this issue seems completely out of place in the GOP… and even politics in general.
