WASHINGTON—The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has initiated an investigation into the Springfield, Ohio, Police Division after numerous allegations from residents there about Haitian migrants committing acts of animal abuse.
Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law and submitted on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), IRLI sent a request to the Springfield police seeking all police reports, 911 calls, and recorded body-worn camera footage from any incident involving allegations of abuse or eating of cats, dogs, ducks or geese from and including March 1, 2024 through and including September 12, 2024.
Springfield has been the focus of national attention recently as the community of 60,000 has been overwhelmed over the last few years by more than 20,000 Haitian migrants who have been sent there by the federal government after being granted Temporary Protected Status.
At a town hall meeting in Springfield last month, local residents told city officials about alleged incidents of Haitian migrants engaged in reckless driving, harassing homeowners and, most notably, killing ducks, geese, cats, and other animals for the purpose of eating them.
The arrival of so many foreign nationals has become a safety threat to the community. In August 2023, a Haitian national driving without a license in Springfield caused a school bus to roll over, killing an 11-year-old boy and injuring 20 other children. Residents have also reported skyrocketing auto insurance premiums because of the number of traffic accidents involving Haitian migrants.
“This is what happens when the reckless mass migration policies of the Biden Administration are implemented,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “The national media has been quick to dismiss charges of animal abuse by migrants in Springfield, but the preponderance of accounts by local residents is too great to ignore. Since the media has abandoned its watchdog responsibility over government, we will pursue the facts here that the people of Springfield and the American public at large deserve to know.”
