Cats, Dogs, and a Lack of Curiosity

Springfield's Signals on Immigration

“They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game.”

-          R.D. Laing

The extraordinary attention given to the alleged dining habits of Haitian immigrants in Ohio and other states has been a distraction from far more important aspects of the story.

That is not surprising. We’ve had an American president suddenly withdraw from his campaign for re-election and the public has yet to receive specifics on how that major event came about. The news media covered the story, but with a pillow instead of serious reporting.

Life today is beset by distractions. Attention spans are shrinking. Genuine curiosity about complicated matters has become an eccentricity. It has always been a safe bet that the national debt would receive less attention than the arrest of a celebrity and yet you could hope that would not be the case in circles where inquiry is a professional requirement.

And yet the old news maxim of “If it bleeds, it leads” is more vibrant than ever. The question of whether to run headlines about Haitian immigrants munching on neighborhood pets is an easy choice for the tabloids, but one would hope that serious journalists would glance at what’s been happening in Springfield, Ohio and dig much deeper.

There are a few of those journalists around. Springfield, Ohio’s local paper, the News-Sun, has done some excellent reporting by focusing on truly serious topics. They found that the Springfield city hall staff estimates that over the past five years the number of Haitian immigrants is estimated to have been from 15,000 to 20,000 people. Before that influx, Springfield’s population was just under 60,000 people.

That population explosion creates a major strain on city resources. A natural question is how it came about. Springfield’s mayor says the city didn’t anticipate the flood of immigrants but “a network of businesses knew what was coming.” The Springfield News-Sun reports that the city’s Immigrant Accountability Response Team believes there is the “possibility” that companies “knew they were going to make an effort to bring in individuals who were crossing the border.”

Hmm. Such possibilities deserve attention.

Newsweek magazine recently quoted a Springfield company’s Chief Executive Officer as saying: “Our Haitian associates come to work every day. They don’t have a drug problem. They’ll stay at their machine; they’ll achieve their numbers. They’re here to work. And so, in general, that’s a stark difference from what we’re used to in our community.”

I doubt if his neighbors and the chamber of commerce were thrilled with those words. Implying that the local workforce is a bunch of lazy dopers is not a magnet for community development and tourism.

It is likely that the new Haitian employees, whatever the nature of their work ethic, are willing to be paid less than their American co-workers. That may be enough to make their business allies smile. Altruism is not playing a major role here.

But this entire event shatters the traditional immigration narrative. For many years we’ve been told that America needs immigrants to perform the jobs that Americans will not do, such as picking onions and grapes. The underlying political message was: “Relax. Immigrants will not take jobs from Americans.”

If Haitian immigrants are willing to accept lower pay and are unlikely to unionize, however, they and other immigrants may well be replacing American workers in non-agricultural workplaces.

If companies were instrumental in attracting a flood of Haitian immigrants to Springfield, then that story is far more important than the “dining on cats and dogs” reports. City services are strained, and the budget of the local municipal government has been damaged by what may have been a locally inflicted wound.

And, quite understandably, the city government is now looking for federal assistance.

It is highly likely that they will get some, of course, but the federal role in the story deserves attention. With bugles blaring, the federal government may eventually ride to the rescue of victims it helped create.

Let’s start by acknowledging that Haiti has been a political, societal, and economic mess for many years. Even after the departure of the hellish Duvalier family dictatorship and the vicious Tonton Macoute, Haiti has been a poisonous mixture of corrupt government, voodoo, gang violence, superstition, and disease. Its island neighbor, the Dominican Republic, even built a large wall along the border between the two countries in order to prevent Haitians from crossing over.

Given the nature of Haiti’s history, it’s easy to understand why its citizens would want to flee. When they have had the opportunity, they have done so. A November 2023 report by the Migration Information Source noted that the American government resumed the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program in 2022, permitting parolees to work in the United States and that through September 2023, “the 83,300 Haitian parole recipients represented the largest group of beneficiaries of this process.” [In this context, the term “parole” has to do with temporary permission to enter the country, not with past criminal conduct.]

All of these numbers should lead to questions regarding how those who are resettled have gotten jobs, especially ones in manufacturing. That takes us to the policies of the federal agencies involved with resettling immigrants.

And this is where it becomes very interesting.

Most Americans, regardless of their views on legal or illegal immigration, probably assume that immigrants who’ve arrived here under various circumstances will require some assistance but that the process itself won’t harm American job seekers.

Refugee resettlement, however, is a special category. It differs from legal immigration and from illegal immigration. A key role is played by 2,400 American Job Centers (AJC), a network of employment sites that are part of the United States Department of Labor.

Established under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the American Job Centers provide an impressive array of services such as career counseling, assistance with job searches, free internet, and hiring events.

The federally funded International Rescue Committee’s “Switchboard” website notes that “Participants in the WIOA Adult program . . . who are low income, receive public assistance, or are ‘basic skills deficient,’ including English language learners, are entitled to priority individualized career services and training services. This may include many refugees, asylees, parolees, or SIV holders. AJC staff must prioritize services to qualifying individuals ahead of other jobseekers.” [Emphasis added.]

“SIV holders” refers to Special Immigrant Visas that are granted to people who assisted the U.S. military, such as translators in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Haitian immigrants, for the most part, would be considered parolees; a term that has nothing to do with past criminal activity but simply means they have temporary permission to be in the United States.

But look at the wording. “AJC staff must prioritize services to qualifying individuals ahead of other jobseekers.” Note that it doesn’t say “may” or “might.” The operative word is “must.”

And the people over whom they are being given priority are the other users of American Job Centers, i.e. American citizens.

With that in mind, a natural question is “Does this mean that Americans go to the back of the line?”

Since resettlement agencies stress the value of maintaining close contact with employers, the resettlement staff can learn of job vacancies that have not been advertised. Armed with that information about what are sometimes called “hidden jobs”, they can encourage employers to place applicants from their agency without going through the hassle and expense of advertising.

It is a win-win for the resettlement people and the employers, but it is far from a win if you’re an American job seeker who is not finding those jobs listed in what we quaintly used to call the “want ads.”

In other words, we currently have a collection of “mays.” Local businesses may have been luring the Haitians to Springfield. The federal government’s job centers may have been giving the Haitians priority over American job-seekers. The Haitian job applicants may have been referred by federal resettlement agencies to businesses for vacancies that may never have been advertised.

But there are no “mays” in this regard: the local city government and community have been overwhelmed and we have just seen a bold shift in the immigration story that goes against the traditional narrative that American job-seekers need not worry about competition from immigrants.

With that in mind, I think it’s time to stop talking about dogs and cats. There is a more important subject on the table and transparency should be the word of the day.