For decades, politicians from both parties have been complaining about a American immigration system almost all of whom call it broken. Attempts at comprehensive reform have failed, and popular emotion and partisan resentment have reached new heights in the past two years as cities and towns struggle to accommodate migrants.
With emotions running high, Republican-led states have newcomers bussed into Democratic-run citiesThe . presidential elections has now turned the spotlight on a city whose last residents are in the country legally.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio have jumped on debunked rumors that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating pets.
In short, immigrants come and stay in this country through a variety of methods and programs that are not easily captured or acknowledged in political rhetoric. But fear-mongering about immigration is almost as old as the country itself.
The approximately 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield are in the U.S. legally. Most of them have Temporary Protected Status, which allows them to stay and work. Trump and Vance have failed to make that distinction, which many critics see as part of Trump’s long history of attacking black peopleLast weekend, the Republican presidential candidate said at a rally in Las Vegas that the city “has been taken over by illegal immigrants.”
Trump would be legally unable Deport Haitians that have a protected status.
His followers such as Vivek Ramaswamy have falsely claimed that the federal government has transported Haitians to Springfield’s doorstep. In reality, migrants with legal status or asylum must foot the bill for their own transportation. The Haitian population there grew largely as migrants going to places where they could find family, housing and work.
The cultural, economic, and religious identity of many American cities was shaped by migrants.
“Most Americans are basically immigrants, and so it’s always a little crazy when that’s called into question. There’s this idea that immigration is not a strength,” said David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City.
One in five Oklahoma City residents is Latino, Holt said, and the restaurants and small businesses they run have become an integral part of the city of about 700,000. In the 1970s and ’80s, thousands of Vietnamese immigrants flocked to the city, and today their community a few miles west of the state capital is known for its bustling markets and many restaurants.
“Their culture and their food are now an important part of what makes Oklahoma City unique,” Holt said.
After the evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021, Holt welcomed more than 2,000 Afghan refugees into the city, and asked one of them, Feroz Bashari, to swear him in for his second term as mayor.
Bashari was the spokesman for the Afghan government before the U.S. withdrew, and he fled with his family when the government fell. He said he knew little about Oklahoma, but a friend assured him it was a good place for immigrant families to settle.
“A friend of mine who came before me told me it’s a nice place to live and raise your children,” Bashari said. “It’s a conservative place, they believe in God, they’re very religious. They have almost the same religious culture as us.”
Bashari was watching the presidential debate when Trump made his disparaging and false claims about Haitian immigrants. He said he believes this type of rhetoric stems from a lack of knowledge about immigrant and refugee populations.
“That’s what Trump always says, ‘I want to make the United States great again,’” Bashari said. “And the more people you have with a different culture, the better the United States becomes.”
Historically, immigrants or people with temporary protected status have come to the U.S. to work, often taking jobs that Americans reject. They fill a need in the labor market that is likely to persist as older generations retire and fewer babies are born.
“If immigrants weren’t coming to New York, for example, schools would be closed, state and city services would be closed. There would be no demand for them,” said Nancy Foner, author of “One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America.”
Immigrants can breathe new life into small, populated neighborhoods and run-down streets by setting up businesses and paying taxes. Miami’s Little Havana, San Francisco’s Chinatown or Chicago’s Polish Triangle are regular haunts for visitors. Migrants also change the fabric and culture of a city, and indeed the country, in ways that long-term residents find difficult.
A census conducted between July 2022 and July 2023 found that Ohio’s foreign-born population included 5,442 people from Haiti. By comparison, Florida and New York had more than 370,000 and 119,000 Haitian-born residents, respectively.
Springfield officials estimate the number today at between 15,000 and 20,000, and they say the size of the influx combined with the language barrier has led to delays in receiving health care, accessing social services and using everyday government services, such as obtaining a driver’s license. Traffic crashes resulting in fatalities and injuries have also increased in the city, as has the pressure on the housing stock. Earlier this month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the city would receive $2.5 million over the next two years for health care.
Outside the Trump campaign-sponsored rally held by Ramaswamy on Thursday, a Springfield resident who would only give her name as Beth said she is frustrated with the way the city has responded to the crisis.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like anyone cares about what we have to say,” she said. “I don’t feel like they want to know the truth. I don’t feel like they care about us.”
Trump has also claimed that rising crime rates in cities like Springfield and Aurora, Colorado, were caused by immigrants. Officials in both cities have denied this. Studies also show that crime is lower among immigrants compared to native-born residents, Foner said.
Nearly 200 years before Trump and Vance perpetuated unfounded fears that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, would kidnap and eat cats and dogs, Chinese laborers in California faced similar demonization. Many Chinese men emigrated from the West in the 1850s—first to dig for gold and then to build the transcontinental railroad. Propaganda of the time fueled fears that the Chinese were a “yellow peril” who smoked opium and ate strange foods. This sentiment led Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first law to restrict immigration on the basis of ethnicity.
In 1924, the US passed a comprehensive immigration law with a quota system based on country of origin. It greatly favored immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. The idea was to restrict immigrants from Asia, Jews, and others fleeing Europe.
In 1965, a monumental change occurred with the Hart-Celler Immigration Act, which abolished quotas and helped immigrants bring family members to the U.S. This practice, known as chain migration, initially benefited Europeans but now also helps people from Asia and Latin America.
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Graham Lee Brewer, of Oklahoma City, and Terry Tang, of Phoenix, are members of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.