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It’s not just Springfield, Haitians being flown to small towns nationwide

Published

18 hours ago

7 minute read

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Haitians are not just arriving in Springfield, Ohio, but also in small rural towns nationwide as a result of several Biden-Harris administration policies.

Since fiscal 2021, more than 485,000 Haitian illegal border crossers, a record, have been reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The overwhelming majority were reported this fiscal year, nearly 216,000, compared to 48,727 in fiscal 2021.

Since fiscal 2021 through August, the majority have been apprehended at the southwest border of nearly 262,000, followed by nearly 221,000 nationwide and nearly 2,300 at the northern border, according to the data.

Additionally, since July, 205,000 Haitians have been released through the CHNV parole program, according to CBP data. Of the more than 765,000 illegal foreign nationals released into the country through the CBP One app, the top nationality is Haitian. Through these programs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also extended Temporary Permanent Status to them and granted work authorization.

All of these programs are illegal, state attorneys general who’ve sued to stop them, argue. U.S. House Republicans also cited them as among the many illegal actions Mayorkas caused them to impeach him. Mayorkas has since only expanded the programs and extended TPS.

When responding to the Haitian influx, local officials claim Haitians are there to work and are contributing to society despite claims by residents to the contrary.

The city of Springfield claims a “surge in our population over the last several years, primarily due to an influx of legal immigrants,” suggesting that Springfield “is an appealing place for many reasons including lower cost of living and available work.”

Springfield Mayor Bob Rue has said “my hands are tied in many ways” about the influx of Haitians, pointing to a designation they were given by the Biden-Harris administration. The TPS program “came from the White House and is a Homeland Security policy,” he said at a recent city commission meeting.

Springfield residents have argued the overwhelming majority of Haitians are enrolling in welfare and not working; have caused increased crime and there aren’t enough police to deal with it; and residents are being killed by Haitian drivers. Rue has expressed concerns about the dangerous driving conditions, saying, “I have almost been hit myself.”

In the last three years, Springfield’s 50,000 population has swelled by roughly 20,000. City officials claim they are there “legally” through TPS through Feb. 3, 2026.

In Sylacauga, Alabama, residents have been demanding answers about busloads of Haitians being dropped into their community. At a Sept. 5 city council meeting, City Council President Tiffany Nix shut down a meeting and made the issue about race. “We have no reason to treat people differently because of how they look,” she said. “There’s no reason for us to discuss this any further.” She also said, “I’m going to welcome anybody to Sylacauga that wants to come to Sylacauga,” 1819 News reported.

Sylacauga resident David Phillips said, “there is no way the State Department can vet these people,” adding that they were coming from a failed state and potentially dangerous.

Residents continue to speak out. At a Sept. 17 meeting, Nix said Haitians were there on 18-month visas. A meeting has also been scheduled with state and federal lawmakers.

In Coffee County, one resident claimed, “30,000 illegal aliens are scheduled to arrive in the first week of October, 1,000 of them in Baldwin County,” and that human trafficking was involved, 1819 News reported. Enterprise City Councilman Greg Padgett posted a statement on Facebook saying, “Enterprise is not a sanctuary city; No elected officials have received bribes to allow Haitians into our city; No one informed the elected officials of our city about this program, how many are here, and for what purpose – so there has been nothing covered up.” He also said they are “doing our best to obtain factual answers.”

In Charleroi, Penn., the immigrant population has grown “by over 2,000% in just the last two years,” primarily due to a Haitian influx, 11 News reported. Despite this creating a strain for the local school district, Charleroi Council Borough Manager Joe Manning told KDKA News, Haitians aren’t “a drain on our resources, they don’t cause problems. “Charleroi Council President Kristin Hopkins-Calek said their community is “steeped in a rich history of immigration,” and Haitians were making a positive contribution, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported.

Under current law, the majority of Haitians being released into the U.S. are inadmissible but have been ordered to be released by the Biden-Harris administration and given “notice to appear” documents for an immigration court hearing years into the future. The NTA states they are inadmissible, CBP officials have explained to The Center Square. Several U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security reports acknowledge their NTA inadmissible status and state their release, not removal, violates federal law established by Congress. If federal law were followed, House Republicans argue the large majority would be prohibited entry.

Many inadmissible Haitians became citizens of Mexico, Chile and other countries, living and working there for years prior to claiming asylum in the U.S., The Center Square has previously reported. Border Patrol and local Texas officials first realized this when what became 30,000 Haitians descended on Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021. Many left their passports and identifying documents – which show their citizenship was not Haitian – in Mexico, claiming they had none. The majority were released into communities nationwide, The Center Square reported.

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Crime

Colorado Town Aiming To Boost Police Force By $10 Million As It Battles Tren De Aragua Gang

Published on September 26, 2024

By

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

Leaders in Aurora, Colorado, are looking to boost funding of its police force by roughly $10 million as reports of local Tren de Aragua activity continue to make national headlines.

The City of Aurora’s proposed 2025 budget includes a $125 million increase in funding, with an emphasis on law enforcement as international gang activity and retail crime has increasingly become an issue for the local community. The proposed plan would boost the police budget from $155.7 million in 2024 to nearly $165 million in 2025.

“Right now, we are not at our full complement of officers,” Aurora Police Department Chief Todd Chamberlain said to CBS News Colorado. “Our patrol is impacted by understaffing issues, and so that’s what I’m looking at right now.”

“I want to be able to have our officers have a clear understanding of what they are responding to before they even get there,” Chamberlain continued. “I want to see where our crimes are occurring, when they’re occurring and who they are occurring to.”

Aurora has been subject to massive media attention after footage of armed men inside an apartment complex went viral in August. Federal immigration authorities later confirmed the men in the video footage are members of Tren de Aragua and Aurora city officials have since sought a court order to clear the apartment building, according to Fox 31.

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis initially pushed back on allegations that gang members had taken over apartment buildings in Aurora, with a spokesperson for his office telling the New York Post last month that “this purported invasion is largely a feature of [Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky’s] imagination.” Jurinsky has consistently spoken out about Tren de Aragua’s presence in Aurora.

Jurinsky was not entirely optimistic when asked how the extra funding could help Aurora combat crime.

“We have increased funding multiple times,” the council member told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday. “One of the biggest problems in this state, and other like minded states like Colorado is that people just don’t want to be police officers here like they used to.”

“We’ve thrown a lot of money at the problem, and I’m not sure it’s being solved,” Jurinsky continued.

The Aurora Police Department earlier this month confirmed that two brothers arrested for a July shooting that left others hospitalized are members of Tren de Aragua. Both men were taken into custody after the shooting, and police say another two men involved in the incident are also suspected of having ties to the international gang.

Tren de Aragua, an international criminal organization that originated in Venezuela, has increasingly gained a foothold in the United States. Immigration experts who spoke to the DCNF said identifying members of the gang can be incredibly difficult, given poor diplomatic cooperation with the Venezuelan government.

“We have next to no vetting for the Venezuelans who are entering the country, because we have no relationship with the government of Venezuela and that’s true of other migrant nationalities,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the DCNF. “We have no way of knowing whether they were in prison in Venezuela.”

“We have no idea if they’ve been living in a third-world country for years before they tried to come to the United States,” Vaughan continued. “We’re essentially letting them in on their word.”

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Crime

In Just 48 Hours ICE Nabbed Four Illegal Migrants For Alleged Sex Crimes Hiding Out At Elite Vacation Hotspot

Published on September 25, 2024

By

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

 

By Jason Hopkins

In a span of just two days, federal immigration authorities nabbed four different illegal migrants charged with various sex crimes on a ritzy Massachusetts island beloved by the liberal elite.

Deportation officers arrested Felix Alberto Perez-Gomez, Elmer Sola, Gean Do Amaral Belafronte and Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo on Nantucket, Massachusetts, between Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, according to several press releases by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All illegal migrants targeted were previously accused of sex crimes against children or other residents in the community.

The latest ICE announcement pertained to the apprehension of Perez-Gomez, a previously deported Guatemalan national who unlawfully returned to the United States before being charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, according to the agency. Deportation officers arrested the Guatemalan man on Sept. 11 on the island, and he remains in the agency’s custody.

Elmer Sola and Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo — both Salvadoran nationals charged locally for sex crimes against children — were arrested on Sept. 10, according to ICE. Sola was arraigned on three counts of aggravated rape of a child and eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, and Aldana was arraigned on one count of a rape of a child with a 10-year age difference and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child

“Elmer Sola unlawfully entered the United States, then made his way into our Nantucket community before allegedly committing some horrific and despicable crimes against a child,” Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in a press statement.

“The officers of ERO Boston will not tolerate such a threat to the children of our New England neighborhoods,” Lyons continued.

Deportation officers also nabbed Gean Do Amaral Belafronte on Sept. 11, according to the agency. Belafronte, a Brazilian national living in the U.S. illegally, was arrested by Nantucket police in June 2021 for indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older before he was detained by federal immigration authorities.

Nantucket has long been an island inhabited by high-income earners who favor the Democratic Party.

The island’s population in 2022 had a median household income of more than $131,000, according to Data USA, far surpassing the median household income of the entire U.S. that same year, which was slightly under than $75,000. Housing has become so expensive on Nantucket that some homes costing as much as $1 million have been offered through a lottery system as a part of a subsidized housing initiative, according to The New York Post.

President Joe Biden earned more than 70% of the vote in Nantucket County in the 2020 presidential election, according to county election results compiled by CNN.

Nantucket is also a top destination for vacationers from around the country. The busiest summer day on the island now hosts more than 60,000 visitors, according to local reporting.

The Obama family enjoys vacationing in the nearby island of Martha’s Vineyard, and purchased a home in 2019 there worth roughly $15 million. Martha’s Vineyard was subject to national media attention in 2022 when Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew a number of illegal migrants from his state and dropped them off onto the wealthy island.

The entire state of Massachusetts is identified as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that tracks such laws across the country. The group cites a 2017 court decision that limits local authorities’ ability to detain migrants wanted by ICE agents.

The ICE arrests were not initially well received by all residents of the Nantucket community.

“It’s frightening for so many,” Esmeralda Martinez, a member of the Nantucket School Committee, said to the Nantucket Current when word of the ICE raid was first circulated earlier this month. “People are hiding in fear that they might be here for them even though most don’t have a criminal record, but for the mere fact that they are not legally here.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Martinez and asked if she still felt this negatively about the ICE raid, given that those arrested have been accused of child sex abuse or other sexual crimes, but did not immediately receive a response from the school committee member.

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