SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - An Ohio town that has seen its population swell with thousands of Haitian refugees has had to battle differences in culture and even driving practices as it adjusts to its new reality.
"We’ve got an influx of folks that have come in, and I think we were a little bit shocked that it was close to 20,000 people in a community of 60,000, and that’s caused some issues between the folks that live here and the folks that are coming in," Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler told Fox News Digital.
The comments come as Springfield, which is located roughly 50 miles west of Columbus, has entered the national spotlight in recent weeks, most recently when former President Donald Trump pointed to the town during one of his responses in Tuesday’s debate.
"They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats," Trump said during a response to a question about immigration. "They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
The issue has also caught the attention of Ohio Republican senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who argued that the Biden administration's "open border" policies "have flooded Springfield, Ohio, with thousands of illegal Haitians who are sucking up social services and destroying a small town here in Ohio."
"We need to deport illegals, not invite them to wreak havoc on our communities like Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris have done," Moreno told Fox News Digital.
While local officials and multiple media outlets have disputed the point that Trump raised in the debate, there is still a new reality faced by longtime members of the Springfield community. Chief among them, according to Koehler, are cultural differences between locals and the Haitian refugees who are new to the town.
"They don’t understand the laws, they don’t understand some of our customs, we don’t understand some of their customs, and that clash and the overwhelming amount of people that have come at one point has really caused some issues," Koehler, who is now running to represent the area in the state Senate, said.
One more extreme example of that, Koehler recalled hearing second hand, allegedly played out at a local Walmart, where he said there were stories of "people showing up at the Walmart on a Saturday morning, going into the bathroom, and stripping down and bathing themselves."
FOCUS GROUP REACTS TO TRUMP CLAIM THAT MIGRANTS ARE 'EATING THE DOGS' IN OHIO TOWN
"Again, not something we do here, something someone might do in another culture, or something someone might do if they don’t understand the culture they’re in now," Koehler said. "Whether that’s true or not, those stories get passed around, and it inflames the situation we have in our community."
Another issue causing concern among the local population is road safety, Koehler noted.
"The driving in town is horrendous," Koehler said, noting that a lot of that issue can also be chalked up to cultural differences.
One notable situation occurred last October, when a school bus carrying dozens of children in the area collided with a minivan, resulting in over 20 kids being hurt and one, Aiden Clark, being killed.
The driver of the minivan was later identified as Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who was found guilty earlier this year of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide for his role in the incident.
The tragic incident inflamed tensions in the community, with Koehler noting that road safety had been one of the more visible concerns for locals.
"We do have a really abnormal number of car accidents that are happening," Koehler said. "And it’s not only the number, but the severity of them. When you go on a street that is a 35-mile-an-hour speed limit and there’s a car sitting on its hood, and I’m not talking about one, I’m talking about five or six accidents a week like that, you begin to wonder."
Nevertheless, Koehler stressed the positive attributes of Springfield, arguing that the town was once in decline but is now on the way back.
"We have a wonderful town," Koehler said.
