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The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper
Why Springfield? Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 13, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
JIMENEZ: Excited for you all to see it tonight. I think we do hit at a lot of what the real issues are in Springfield, which of course has been at the center of this national discourse that hasn't been, let's just say, preferential to the facts -- Jessica.
DEAN: Omar, thanks.
"THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," one whole story, one whole hour, airs next only on CNN.
Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. We're going to see you again next weekend. Have a great night.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE WHOLE STORY. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The city of Springfield, Ohio, has become a flashpoint in this presidential election. It's home to roughly 12,000 Haitian immigrants who are residing legally there, most under temporary protected status because of the deteriorating living conditions in Haiti. But these immigrants have been targeted by former president Donald Trump, who promises to deport them if elected, and by his running mate who spread widely discredited claims and conspiracy theories about the Haitians in Springfield.
CNN's Omar Jimenez has been reporting from Springfield and over the next hour examines the long history of why immigrants have flocked to the city, including the recent influx of Haitians, and looks at what will happen to the local economy if they leave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANEIL AULA, HAITIAN RESIDENT: We come to America to work. To save our lives. To take care of our family. Not for doing bad things. We are not bad people. The problem is we can't communicate. As Haitians, we don't speak English. They don't speak Creole. When we can't communicate, we are afraid. But when they have the possibility to know the Haitian community, it will be another thing.
GRAPHICS: Pentaflex Metal Factory. Springfield, Ohio.
ROSS MCGREGOR, PRESIDENT, PENTAFLEX, INC.: Pentaflex was founded in 1972 by my father. What we've always focused on is being able to make very heavy gauged, complex metal stampings and assemblies. We do a lot of work with the commercial vehicle industry. All of our parts that we're making they're safety related and very critical to the breaking operation of heavy trucks.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Breaks are important.
MCGREGOR: Yes.
JIMENEZ: We need breaks.
MCGREGOR: That's right.
JIMENEZ: When would you say you hired your first Haitian immigrant?
MCGREGOR: Three, four years ago. Post-pandemic era. As we came out of the pandemic, there was this huge demand for production. And we were struggling to find people to come in and work with us. They might work a day or two and then we'd never see him again. They just would disappear.
And that is a real problem when you're running a production facility. You need to have a reliable workforce that you can count on to be at work every day.
When you look at who our major employers are right now manufacturing is still a vital part of our economic base. But not everybody wants to come to work every day and run a machine.
JIMENEZ: How much more difficult do you think it would have been to scale up your production without the population of Haitians that we had coming here?
MCGREGOR: I think it would have been more difficult. They came back every day and became very productive as an employee.
JIMENEZ: You were telling me you lost an employee because you couldn't offer them overtime.
MCGREGOR: Several employees. The Haitian community wants the hours. There are no Haitians that are taking anybody's jobs. I mean, if you want a job you can get a job.
The influx of the Haitian population has allowed companies to expand and grow from an economy standpoint for the community. They are shopping, they're paying taxes. It just boggles my mind the people that think that they're just getting this incredible free ride.
[20:05:06]
And I want to dispel one thing. We don't bring them in at a substandard wage and work them and pay them any less than we would any other employee. And I just encourage people to have a little bit of empathy for where the Haitians are coming from. I don't know a person in this town that wouldn't want to get the hell out of there.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The Haitian government extended a state of emergency for the entire country due to ongoing deadly gang violence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The country now overrun by gang leaders attacking airports, police stations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least 70 people are dead following an attack by gang members in central Haiti. Three infants are among the dead. The U.N. reports at least 3600 people have been killed.
JIMENEZ: How long have you been working here at Pentaflex?
AULA: One year.
JIMENEZ: Why did you have to leave Haiti?
AULA: Because my life was not be safe. They burn my house. I lost everything.
JIMENEZ: Who was after you? Do you know?
AULA: Because I am a police officer.
JIMENEZ: That's the only reason.
AULA: That the reason.
JIMENEZ: Do you think you would have been killed if you stayed in Haiti?
AULA: I know that. There are two friends who let me know that.
JIMENEZ: One of the things you told me was that working here sometimes is hard because you don't have your family.
AULA: Yes. They live somewhere in Haiti right now.
JIMENEZ: Are they in hiding?
AULA: Yes, because when a gang or someone who have problem with you knows your family, he can do everything with your family because the family was a partner with a police officer.
JIMENEZ: Do you talk to your family often?
AULA: Every day. Every day. Sometimes two, three times.
JIMENEZ: What do you talk about?
AULA: Everything. I always want to know always my daughter, my wife.
JIMENEZ: How old is your daughter?
AULA: Last Sunday o September she is 8 years old.
JIMENEZ: So you couldn't be there for her birthday?
AULA: No. JIMENEZ: Is that hard?
AULA: Very hard. Very hard. Because she represents my heart. She is my firstborn. She said to me, Papi, never leave me alone. Never leave me alone. Stay with me. I miss you. Sometimes when I remember that, I want to cry but I have to take power, I have to stay strong because I have to take care of them. I have to stay alive because I expect to meet them again.
There's different kind of person you meet when you go somewhere. There are some people who look in you the bad way. There are some who always welcome you. Always greet you and say you something, encourage you. When I go to the grocery, I often use some word of joke. That make me feel good when I meet someone. I give to other people a possibility to communicate with me.
BRYAN HECK, CITY MANAGER: The last several years we've seen more growth than we've seen for decades past. We've seen a revitalization and resurgence of our downtown. Before Bridgewater, which is one of the newer developments, we saw little to no investment in our housing stock for 30 plus years. Originally, that project was planned over five to six years. They've been able to move quicker because the pace of sales and the need for housing.
JIMENEZ: What's on the left here?
HECK: This is Sycamore Ridge, and this is going to be 220 single- family homes for our community.
[20:10:01]
This project over here, this is Melody Parks. This is one of our newest developments. It will get new housing units with a mix of it being market rate apartments, patio homes, and those single-family lots in various sizes. And then we'll have the commercial retail frontage so that you can shop for groceries, you can go out to dinner with your family.
JIMENEZ: The influx of Haitians has brought a lot of benefits in that some of the economic boom or increase that you were talking about, you have to attribute in some ways to them.
HECK: That is certainly true. The Haitian community members have been a benefit to our economy, and that benefit to the economy has helped us continue our path of revitalization and growth. We've been successful in creating and bringing new jobs to our community. But you have to have a workforce to be able to work those jobs. And the Haitian community members, they're hard workers. They are working these jobs. I know one company had 50 jobs that just went unfilled for a long period of time until the Haitian community started coming into Springfield.
There's the ability to grow and expand our existing businesses and allows us to create new jobs, new companies coming into our market because of that workforce which then allows us to grow in housing, in retail, in restaurant, and other means for our community. JIMENEZ: And even with this new housing going in, it's still nowhere
near enough what you need.
HECK: No. We were already at a housing shortage with our existing population. We're going to have 2,000 new units built over the next three years in Springfield, Ohio. But with 15,000 new residents that's not going to be enough.
We're trying to address those issues that exist in Springfield, Ohio, but when we've been elevated into the national spotlight for the wrong reason, that has not helped.
We need help, not hate.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. You have to get them the hell out.
DIEFF-SONN LEBON, HAITIAN RESIDENT (through text translation): A white man drove by and yelled, Trump.
AULA: I'm so scared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRAPHICS: On August 28, 2024, a Springfield resident reported to police that she suspected her Haitian neighbors of chopping up her cat after finding "meat" in the backyard. Soon after, social media posts began circulating about pet-eating Haitians and were even promoted by neo-Nazi groups. Just days after the initial report, the owner's cat "Miss Sassy" was found safety in her basement.
[20:15:02]
TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. Illegal Haitian immigrants have descended upon the town of 58,000 people destroying their entire way of life. This was a beautiful community, and now it's honorable what's happened.
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a lot of people saying, my pets are being abducted and slaughtered right in front of us. This town has been ravaged.
JIMENEZ: I've been here multiple times and every time I come back here, it seems like there's more fear, there's for more tension, there's more nervousness about what's going on. Right now we are getting ready to go meet a Haitian immigrant who got here just in the past few years.
We met Dieff-sonn at his construction site as he was getting off of work and honestly, we weren't even sure if he wanted his name to be used or if he wanted his face to be shown basically because he was scared like so many of the Haitians we've spoken to here. They were scared about consequences of their names getting out there, of facing potential threats, of essentially being harassed. We were heading out to dinner at a Haitian restaurant in the area, but
we made a stop here at essentially what's immigration services for Dieff-sonn and it's because he says he's scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): Yes. Yes. Come have a seat.
JIMENEZ: He is here legally. But the reason why we wanted to stop here is because he wanted more information how he can protect himself if there is an effort for mass deportation in the future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through text translation): If a person has received a notice of intention to deport, we can write a motion letter to the judges on his or her behalf.
TRUMP: You look at Springfield, Ohio. They're going in violently. They are dangerous. They are at the highest level of criminality.
GRAPHICS: Haitians in Springfield are more likely to be the victims of crime than they are to be the perpetrators, according to county data. There were 199 inmates in Clark County jail as of September 8, 2024. Only two of them, representing one percent of the inmates, were Haitian.
LEBON (through text translation): Two goat dishes.
I left Haiti, first of all, because of insecurity reason, and uncertainty. A friend of mine suggested that I move to Springfield. This month makes it a year since I have been living in Springfield.
JIMENEZ: Did you ever have anybody say something to you personally?
LEBON (through text translation): As I was walking down the road, a white man drove by and yelled, Trump.
JIMENEZ: Were you scared when you heard that?
LEBON (through text translation): Yes, I was scared because I was on the street. I was going to buy something. And I was also walking on foot. So I was scared and I hurried to get home.
JIMENEZ: Had you ever dealt with anything like that before living here?
LEBON (through text translation): No, no. There were no such thing. It was peaceful here, understand, there were no such things. Everything stared after the remark.
JIMENEZ: Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. OK. OK.
LEBON (through text translation): This is rice. This is fried pork. And plantains.
JIMENEZ: What did you think when you first heard people saying that you're eating cats and dogs here in Springfield? LEBON (through text translation): I was very shocked. I had a bad day
at work. My colleagues know that I am Haitian. They were asking me questions. I felt ashamed all day long.
JIMENEZ: Your life changed as soon as those words were said?
LEBON (through text translation): Well, it really upset me. I left my country because of insecurity, and now even here, I no longer feel safe.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: We're learning new details on how the baseless rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, because. The town's mayor confirms to CNN that a staffer for Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance called the city manager a day before the presidential debate.
[20:20:01]
That staffer was told there is no evidence to back up those claims.
HECK: I had a call from one of Vance's staffers and I asked, hey, are the rumors true? Are pets being taken and eaten by the immigrants in your community? I said no. It's a baseless claim and then to see that continue to be retweeted by Vance himself the next day, and then sitting there watching the presidential debate to see that that is the light that's being shared on our community. Even though we've told them that it's not true. That's difficult.
JIMENEZ: What is the dynamic been like just in this city?
HECK: A lot of tension. We are living the danger that misinformation and lies creates.
COOPER: Debunked conspiracy theories sparked violent threats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had well over 35 different threats, bomb threats.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Those threats have prompted evacuations of elementary schools and supermarkets, lockdowns of hospitals.
TRUMP: I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it's been taken over by illegal migrants and that's a terrible thing that happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at the head of the anti-Haitian immigration march earlier this month. I've come to bring a word of warning. Stop what you're doing before it's too late. Crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in. And with it --
MAYOR ROB RUE (R), SPRINGFIELD: This just sounds threatening. If you go ahead and just peacefully be removed. Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are really outsiders.
RUE: You're done. Thank you. That's all. Thank you so much. Not really thank you.
JIMENEZ: Outside one of the schools, we saw watchtowers that the state has helped install really as an added security measure in the wake of some of the recent threats that we've seen to these schools. Now the threats have ended up being hoaxes but they've resulted in real evacuations of these students and staffs, and bottom line has just disrupted life for so many in this area.
HECK: Our first bomb threat was to city hall. And so for me to have to go on the intercom and tell my employees that I need you to vacate the building, that was tough to have threats thrown at my family and thrown at my house, to explain to my 12-year-old why a bomb dog has to sniff our house to see if something is explosive there. That's tough. They bear the stress that I'm worrying from this unprecedented and challenging time we're facing as a community.
JIMENEZ: Has it been scary?
AULA: I'm so scared because when I was needy, I can go somewhere and I have the same possibility to leave but here I know nothing. I go home and I come to work. A lot of Haitian already leaves Springfield. I have of course then she called me last Sunday and let me know. You don't want to come to live with me.
JIMENEZ: Really?
AULA: Yes.
JIMENEZ: There are people right now telling you to leave Springfield.
AULA: Yes. Yes.
JIMENEZ: Has that ever happened before?
AULA: No. No.
AMANDA PAYEN, HAITIAN AMERICAN RESIDENT: Dinnertime. That's real spice.
JIMENEZ: Did you put the spice right on the oyster?
A. PAYEN: Yes, that's what I did.
JIMENEZ: I got to do it.
A. PAYEN: Let's see how you do it.
JIMENEZ: Ready? One, two, three.
A. PAYEN: One, two, three.
JIMENEZ: Definitely have a little bit of a kick. But it's perfect.
How long have you been in the U.S.?
JACOB PAYEN, HAITIAN AMERICAN RESIDENT: I have been in the U.S. for over 29 years now. She has been here for about, what?
A. PAYEN: Nine to 10 years.
J. PAYEN: Nine to 10 years.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
A lot of people, you know, have been, you know, especially in the Haitian community, think tense has been the word that people have been using. I mean, it sounds like you all have felt that.
A. PAYEN: We are Haitian-American. We're part of the country. We're part of the city. We are citizen American. So I don't, I don't see that makes any sense for other American hurting, American people.
JIMENEZ: You have to take your son out of school early, right? What happened then?
J. PAYEN: Yes, several times.
[20:25:01]
First time we had to get him early, it was the first bomb threat. The second time he got an early release because it seems like there were more threats.
JIMENEZ: What have the past few weeks been like for you?
A. PAYEN: Overwhelming since, you know, I'm wondering what's going on in my son's head right now.
J. PAYEN: And we try to stay away from topics such as Haitians is this, Haitians did that. Because they've been getting picked on at the school,
JIMENEZ: Wow.
J. PAYEN: It's going to leave a scar, somewhere in our lives for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of our favorites.
JIMENEZ: Well, thank you guys for talking to me over eating. That spies got to me on the chip by the way. So I was -- I was struggling on that last one. I was like, OK, stay serious. I got to --
J. PAYEN: If there's one thing I want to say, there's a little boy last year on his way on the first day of school, on his way to school he got -- his school bus get into an accident.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
J. PAYEN: And the driver behind the other wheel was a Haitian immigrant and that little boy died. We want to send out our sympathy to the Clocks family. I want to make that clear.
A. PAYEN: And we are sorry. And we are --
J. PAYEN: And we are deeply sorry for the loss. Mr. Clark understand it was an accident. He understands that.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: It was a car accident involving a Haitian immigrant.
JIMENEZ: 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This week, J.D. Vance started posting saying that he was murdered. The father says he was not murdered. He says he was accidentally killed.
NATHAN CLARK, FATHER OF AIDEN CLARK: They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants. The border crisis. And even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However, they are not allowed nor have they ever been allowed to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.
TRUMP: You have to remove the people. You cannot destroy -- we cannot destroy our country. They have to be removed.
JIMENEZ: You're governor of Ohio, but you were also born in Springfield. If we did wake up the next morning and all of the Haitians here were gone, what do you think happens to Springfield?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:20]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CBS News vice president debate. We want to welcome our viewers on CBS.
VANCE: Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.
J. PAYEN: This is not what it's about.
VANCE: Are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris' open border.
A. PAYEN: You destroyed our lie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status temporary protected.
J. PAYEN: Legal.
A. PAYEN: Legal. Yes.
JIMENEZ: What do you all remember about coming here as teenagers?
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R), OHIO: We started dating and state theater right up here was one place we went. You know, 12 miles from our house and Springfield was kind of the place we went to for dates.
JIMENEZ: So when you were in high school, he was trying to impress you still at this point by bringing you to Springfield?
DEWINE: Are you impressed?
(LAUGHTER)
JIMENEZ: Is it similar to what it was like when you first walk through these doors?
DEWINE: Yes, it's very impressive. They've redone this and brought it back to allow this grandeur.
JIMENEZ: What has this past month been like?
DEWINE: Well, it's been kind of strange, you know. We have been working with the community for some time.
JIMENEZ: Look, yes, you're governor of Ohio, but you were also born in Springfield. You've been to Haiti many, many times, you and your family have also helped stand up a school down there in Haiti as well.
DEWINE: Our schools in Cite Soleil, which is always the poorest and the worst area. They're educating about 5,000 kids every single day.
JIMENEZ: And all of these things sort of come together in, as you described, a strange way. What was your reaction when former president Trump flat-out said in Springfield, patients are eating the cats and dogs?
DEWINE: Well, as governor, I have an obligation to tell the truth and talk about Springfield. We knew that's not true. No evidence of that at all.
JIMENEZ: I've spoken to a lot of Haitians and one of the things that I've heard from all of them is they're scared in a way that they haven't been before.
DEWINE: I think it's always a bad thing for the entire community when any population, any group of people in the community are scared.
[20:35:01]
They may not report crime. They may not participate in society. They may pull back. None of those things are good. None of those things help anybody.
JIMENEZ: This isn't the first time we've seen a wave of immigrants here.
DEWINE: If you look at Springfield's history by 1870, the African American population in Springfield, only five years after the civil war, was about 10 percent. So you had clearly some freed slave coming before. You had some who escaped. Well before the big migration that we always talk about in the 1900s. JIMENEZ: Springfield really does have a storied immigration history. I
mean, this was a stop on the underground railroad, so Springfield was really a symbol of a step toward freedom but also a new life for slaves in America.
And then Greeks immigrated here in the early 1900s. That's when we saw some of the first Greek establishments created here. Germans, Irish, Hispanics later on, and now we're seeing an influx of Haitian immigrants.
DEWINE: If you look at Springfield's growth in the last few years, that's been fueled a lot of it by the Haitian immigrants who are taking jobs that were open and they couldn't be filled by someone. I had one employer look me in the eye and said, I don't think our company really would be here today if it wasn't for Haitians. I've had other people say we wouldn't have been able to go to the second shift. Others said we wouldn't be able to take on new business.
Pumping resources into the communities is how communities grow.
TRUMP: Do you think Springfield will ever be the same? You have to get them the hell out. You have to get them out. I'm sorry. Can't have it. Can't have it.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: They've destroyed it.
(CHANTING)
AUDIENCE: Send them back. Send them back. Send them back.
TRUMP: You have to remove the people. We cannot destroy our country. They have to be removed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So you would revoke the temporary protected status?
TRUMP: Absolutely I'd revoke it and I'd bring them back to their country.
JIMENEZ: If we did wake up the next morning and all of the Haitians here were gone, what do you think happens to Springfield?
DEWINE: That's not good for Springfield. I would not like to see them gone. I think it'd be bad for Springfield. I think it'd be bad for Ohio.
JIMENEZ: You've voted for Donald Trump in 2020. He is now saying that if he is re-elected, he's going to deport these Haitian immigrants. I mean, do you still plan to vote for him?
DEWINE: I think it would be a mistake to kick these people out.
JIMENEZ: Not enough of a mistake to change how you plan to vote? DEWINE: Well, look, I think the decision to who you support for
president is based upon multiple issues, and I am a Republican. I support my party. Going against the nominee of the party I think, you know, makes me a less effective governor of the state of Ohio.
JIMENEZ: Given that, what do you say to a Haitian who will see these comments and say I thought this governor had my back, and he is now going to support the person who wants to kick me out?
DEWINE: Yes. Look, people can make any conclusion they want to, but I make my position very, very clear. I don't think they should be thrown. I think it would be a dramatic mistake. I think it's wrong.
JIMENEZ: There's a disconnect between sort of the national politics of things versus the reality of what's going on here.
HECK: We do have challenges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:44]
UNIDENTIFIED SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: They don't understand. We need an interpreter. We need somebody here to help them because there's a language barrier, there really is.
UNIDENTIFIED SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: The influx here has been a culture shock, you know, to say the least.
RUE: We didn't get a chance to have an infrastructure in place. The Most frustrating thing is we've got to spend tax dollars to try to take care of 15,000 more folks every year and make sure that everybody has a safe environment to be in.
HECK: Some of the Haitian migration started as far back as 2014 but really the last three years is when we've seen the largest surge in our Haitian migrant population. It's important for us that we're able to embrace this new change for our community and I will say it hasn't come easy, you know. People fear change. Change is tough.
JIMENEZ: I was supposed to speak with one lifelong Springfield resident here who didn't want to appear on camera, who told me that she thought what was said at the debate was wrong.
[20:45:06]
But she says there also have been some pretty significant clashes in culture with the influx of Haitians that have come in here. She's also talked about issues with driving that they've seen, which is also what we've heard from state officials. They say that's the number one problem they've had with Haitians from a public safety perspective.
HECK: In the state of Ohio, anybody over the age of 18 does not have to go through a formal driver's education program. They can test for their license and they can begin driving. There has been issues as it relates to driving and our new Haitian neighbors acclimating to -- JIMENEZ: Road signs.
HECK: Road signs and roadways that they didn't experience in Haiti.
JIMENEZ: And you have some weird streets.
HECK: We do. We have one way streets right downtown and we have some weird different directions that you have to go.
J. PAYEN: I have to be honest with you. Let me be honest on this one.
JIMENEZ: Go for it.
J. PAYEN: We have bad driving records here in Springfield. It causes car insurance to go up. That has been one of the problems. It becomes frustrating.
JIMENEZ: When you talk about schools, they too have struggled with the influx of these Haitian immigrants because when you have a large amount of students coming into a school district like this they've been trying to find a number of translators to match up.
HECK: They went from less than 100 English language learners to now they have served over 1200. And that's tough.
MCGREGOR: The language barrier was a steep, steep hill to climb. We've helped them find English as a second language classes.
JIMENEZ: What you're seeing the last few years you guys have now -- the instructions aren't just in English but they're in Creole as well?
MCGREGOR: Exactly. A lot of the Haitians here in Springfield have become much better at the English language.
JIMENEZ: You're going to an English class after this, right, as I understand?
AULA: Yes.
JIMENEZ: Why has that been so important to you?
AULA: I have an objective since I was in Haiti. I want to integrate this society that the reason I go to the English class to have more knowledge in the English and to learn something and to be better for the community.
JIMENEZ: What do you need to support the population that you have now?
HECK: Health care, our health care is strapped for resources right now. We have our federally qualified health center. They're going to spend $600,000 over the next year on translation services alone.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
HECK: Instead of that money going towards actual health care services, they're having to go towards translation services. And that's a challenge.
JIMENEZ: This is a mobile healthcare clinic the state has helped put up essentially to try and target some of the pressure points we've seen in the health care system here. So those are things like blood pressure screenings, vaccinations, things of that nature, and state officials say they've already seen close to 100 patients in just about a week's time, which well exceeded their expectations.
HECK: Back in July I sent a letter to Senator Brown and then CC Senator Vance on that letter. And it was to highlight the housing crisis. I didn't call it a migrant crisis. I didn't call it an immigration crisis. It's a housing crisis. And the fact that the pace of growth for our community is just -- was not sustainable and continues to not be sustainable unless we get some additional support from the state and federal government.
JIMENEZ: How have you approached adding resources from a state perspective to here in Springfield?
DEWINE: Sure. I mean, as governor, my job is to deal with extraordinary circumstances. Long before the debate occurred and this became a national issue, you know, we were putting members of highway patrol because police were overtaxed, basically, driving issues. We really focused on making the capacity of the health system broader. But we need more resources.
[20:50:09]
JIMENEZ: From the federal government, you think?
DEWINE: Well, the community needs it. Where it comes from is a different issue. I mean, we've also of course reached out to the federal government.
JIMENEZ: I do think it's fair to say that, you know, we know prices have gone up the past few years. Economics have gotten tougher for a lot of individuals, nonimmigrants here in Springfield. I mean what do you say to some of those who say, well, so much attention is going to the Haitians. What about me?
DEWINE: Everything that we have done has been for every citizen in Springfield. I don't care whether they're Haitian or whether they've been in Springfield for five generations.
LEBON: I love all of them. Even the people hate me, angry about me, I love them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I may forget what you said, the kids will never forget what you tell them.
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[20:55:27]
VANCE: The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I start talking about cat memes. BASH: But it wasn't a meme.
VANCE: If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do, Dana.
BASH: Sorry, you just said that you're creating the story.
VANCE: What's that, Dana? Yes.
BASH: So the eating dogs and cats thing is not accurate?
VANCE: We are creating -- we are -- Dana.
JIMENEZ: So we're headed into this Haitian grocery store. But honestly, it's so much more than that. Mainly because of the woman who runs it. And this is where we find the lovely Philomene.
How are you doing? Come on out here. (Speaking in foreign language).
PHILOMENE PHILOSTIN, HAITIAN AMERICAN RESIDENT: (Speaking in foreign language).
JIMENEZ: (Speaking in foreign language).
PHILOSTIN: (Speaking in foreign language).
Let me tell you something, don't let nobody intimidate you. If you believe in yourself, you are a hard worker, what people say, you don't have to worry about it. You just have to do your best of you. That's it. I'm not worried. I know I don't eat dog. I don't eat cats so I don't have to worry if somebody told me I eat dog. Did you ever eat dog?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
PHILOSTIN: OK. So you don't have to be worried. Somebody says something because you're not happy, everybody is just leave. No. Stop it. No, you're not going nowhere. You got to stay. If you're New York, wherever you go, you cannot be the same thing. Somebody says something, you just grab more, no. Stop it. That piss me off.
JIMENEZ: You've been here in the U.S. 30 years you said?
PHILOSTIN: 30. Yes. I've been citizen over 25 years. We opened the shop, you know, everything was good, you know, until whatever happened people start moving out. A lot of people moving. A lot of --
JIMENEZ: A lot of Haitians are moving.
PHILOSTIN: A lot of -- that was kind of what make me mad. Why we have to be moving because somebody says something?
JIMENEZ: Have Haitians been scared here?
PHILOSTIN: They do scare. That's why they're moving. The guy said they're going to come and shoot them. They're going to come in do this, do that. So they're really worried. Some people are really worried to come shopping.
JIMENEZ: Yes, you were saying your business has slowed down.
PHILOSTIN: They're very slow. Me I'm not worried about that because I see that before.
JIMENEZ: You seem like a fighter. You seem like, you know what, I'm not going to let them bring me down.
PHILOSTIN: I am strong, I think it's the nature. As a woman, a single woman, who raise my three kids, and then I work hard. Number one, I am not afraid of nobody. I am not. I actually have people that was following me over 15 minutes even when I reach a police on the street. So I tell them that, I still not scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My main concern, I'm a youth leader. And I've been doing that for 10 years. What is kind of sad for me and I say it with the bottom of my heart, that is too much for the kids.
JIMENEZ: What's been going on right now is too much for the kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It is too much for the kids. You know, the kids get bullied on in school. Some other kids call them name. Everything like that. So when somebody play with the kids you play with me, too. That's my heart. Because I may forget what you say, the kids will never forget what you tell them.
Everybody come here. We're going to play. Come, come, all the kids. Come in. Get up in here. Get up. Let's get in together. Make a big circle. OK. Song 23rd, one, two, three.
AULA: Thank you for using your time to know something about Haitian people, about immigrant people. I'm so grateful the possibility to refuge myself in their county. Presence of immigrant it's not a danger for them. Sometimes they think immigrant people come to take them place. Immigrants cannot take the place of American citizen. There's a place for everyone.
I want today to let them know even the people angry about me as an immigrant, I love all of them. Even the people hate me, I love them because we have to live together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
