On Friday, former President Trump said his mass deportation plans will start with migrants in Auora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, report Luige Del Puerto and Nico Brambila of The Denver Gazette.
These comments stem from unfounded claims Trump and other prominent Republicans have spread regarding Venezuelan and Haitian migrants in the two small cities, Del Puerto and Brambila note.
In an appearance on ABC’s "This Week" yesterday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said such rumors are "not helpful," reports David Cohen of Politico.
"What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work," DeWine said. "Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in."
Similarly, Springfield’s mayor Rob Rue (R) highlighted the need for immigration reforms but encouraged local residents to take a positive approach, reports Patrick Djordjevic of NewsNation. "These are human beings in our town," said Rue. "And I just [encourage] those who are walking in fear to walk in faith."
A woman who shared one of the earliest Facebook posts supporting rumors against Haitians in Springfield is now expressing regret, reports Alicia Victoria Lozano of NBC News. , reports Alicia Victoria Lozano of NBC News.
Also from NBC News, Lozano and Corky Siemaszko report that tensions are putting incredible strain on the Springfield community. As Jennie commented in Gwen Aviles’ piece in Refinery29,"This dehumanizing language has ... real consequences."
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
FAITHFUL RESPONSE — Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is among those responding to the falsehoods by encouraging people to show hospitality toward newcomers, reports Kevin Clarke of America magazine. Wenski addressed the historical and current backlash against immigration: "We all suffered discrimination because we were outsiders. You would think that we would have a better memory about that and take that into account for the newcomers because we were once newcomers ourselves."
RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES — Forum Senior Fellow Linda Chavez calls false claims regarding widespread noncitizen voting "a recurrent and insidious theme" in her latest for The xxxxxx. Chavez shares the Forum’s explainer and concludes, "Phony drives to uncover noncitizen voting fraud may end up disenfranchising citizen voters instead by intimidating both naturalized immigrants and their fellow ethnics who were born here and are entitled to vote."
HEALTH CARE — A new mandate in Texas requiring medical professionals to ask people their immigration status, scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, is causing fear in the state’s immigrant communities, report Valerie Gonzalez, Gisela Salomon and Devi Shastri of the Associated Press. Health care workers in Florida have cautionary tales about a similar law — and unlike Florida, Texas will not require providers to say they won’t share individual immigration-status information with authorities. Advocates in Texas are informing the immigrant community about the mandate.
HISTORY REPEATS — Victor Ochoa is now a muralist and activist who speaks out through his art. In 1955, his family was one of many affected by President Dwight Eisenhower’s deportation program, report Andrew Restuccia and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal. With former President Trump talking about deporting an estimated 11 million people, Ochoa reflects on his art, his family’s past and how he fears history may repeat itself.
