# Springfield, OH immigrants: what's the actual story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220 "2024-09-13T17:14:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/121 "2024-10-01T07:42:16Z")
NYT, Sep 3, gifted article: [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/us/springfield-ohio-school-bus-crash-haiti-immigrants.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.O04.RZE3.McgmBInR3Y7U&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/us/springfield-ohio-school-bus-crash-haiti-immigrants.html?unlocked_article_code=1.O04.RZE3.McgmBInR3Y7U&smid=url-share) > For decades, Springfield had been another shrinking Midwestern town with an uncertain future. > Manufacturing plants had shuttered, fueling an exodus. Empty Victorian mansions on Fountain Avenue, erected for industrial barons, stood as relics of the town’s heyday. > The population dwindled to less than 60,000 by 2014, from more than 80,000 in 1960. > Around that time, Springfield crafted a strategic plan to attract business. City leaders pitched the town’s affordability, its work force development programs and its location, smack-dab between Columbus and Dayton and accessible to two interstates. > In 2017, Topre, a major Japanese auto parts manufacturer, picked Springfield for a new plant in a decaying part of town that had been the site of International Harvester, a farm equipment manufacturer that was once the biggest employer. > By 2020, Springfield had lured food-service firms, logistics companies and a microchip maker, among others, creating an estimated 8,000 new jobs and optimism for the future. … > But soon there were not enough workers. Many young, working-age people had descended into addiction. Others shunned entry-level, rote work altogether, employers said. > Haitians who heard that the Springfield area boasted well-paying, blue-collar jobs and a low cost of living poured in, and employers were eager to hire and train the new work force. > McGregor Metal, a family-owned business in Springfield that makes parts for cars, trucks and tractors, was short of workers after investing millions to boost production. That was published a month ago. Now Jamie McGregor has received death threats considered credible by the FBI, because 10% of his labor force is Haitian and he shared his experiences with the New York Times. [Noah Smith](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/how-will-you-save-small-midwestern): > But in any case, if you’re upset about “floods” of low-skilled immigrants getting “dumped” on small towns in the American heartland, you should ask yourself: How else do you propose to revive those declining regions? Would you starve them of the only resource that they could possibly use to revitalize themselves? Would you just tell all the people in those towns to pack up and move to New York and Chicago? What’s your alternative plan? Because I honestly don’t see any other way those places are going to get saved. Yes. Regional economic development of rust-belt locales is a heavy lift, and immigration is typically part of the solution. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/122 "2024-10-01T09:49:02Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Regional economic development of rust-belt locales is a heavy lift, and immigration is typically part of the solution. And as I pointed out above, they would have seen a lot of the same problems, no matter who came to town to work those jobs. The only difference between the Haitians and a few thousand white, rural Republicans moving to this town would be the language issues, and we already know how to solve that problem, they just have to do it. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/123 "2024-10-01T11:28:27Z")
Let’s face it. This is just the irrepressibly charming “**[JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US](https://www.brandeis.edu/jewish-experience/jewish-america/2021/november/replacement-antisemitism-sarna.html)**” crowd from Charlottesville, but they’re utterly speechless at the _sight_ of the Haitians around town. Remember: “Press 1 for English” drives them fucking in-sane. If you’ve ever watched any of the **[YouTube channels](https://www.youtube.com/@JoeandNicsRoadTrip)** that regularly cover decaying American towns, then you probably understand a bit about the decades long downward spiral they’ve largely all seen. Totally agree: if you can’t make the towns ‘hip’ enough to lure in [**the Millennials**](https://stateline.org/2016/07/25/millennials-bring-new-life-to-some-rust-belt-cities/), then you really should be glad for any who can help stanch the hemorrhaging. All solutions are _not_ the same, and many _do_ bring unique challenges, but if it weren’t for MAGA, and their incessant “burn it all down and find me an ‘other’ to blame” approach to campaigns, Springfield could have been brought to the fore as a case study in how _to_ resuscitate dying old factory towns in this country. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/124 "2024-10-01T11:58:22Z")
The governor is sending nurses and doctors (more jobs and money for the town) and the Haitians are providing much-needed labor in that shrinking community. Yes, they bring problems, as any influx of 15k would to a 58k town, but they also bring lots of benefits. The problems will get handled (they will learn English, learn to drive), but the benefits of additional workers, consumers, service users and providers, funding, etc., will remain. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/125 "2024-10-01T13:59:33Z")
This whole story is a great example of how Trump does not really care about reviving American manufacturing or the economy. He’s antagonizing a population that is bringing prosperity to a small manufacturing town based solely on racism. This is a real opportunity for the Harris campaign and I hope it makes it into some of their messaging outside of just the “Trump is a crazy liar” stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220.md?page=6)