Springfield, Ohio (CNN) – From his small apartment in Ohio, Vilbrun Dorsainvil makes video calls to Haiti to spend time with his fiancée and daughter, whom he never had the chance to meet.
Three years ago, Dorsainvil said he was faced with an impossible choice: risk his life by staying in Haiti to witness the birth of his daughter or flee, having become a target of the gang violence that was tearing his country apart.
“I didn’t want to leave, really, but they were chasing me,” he told CNN. “You go to medical school and they think you have money after you graduate… but I didn’t, I was just helping the community.”
Finally, his fiancee helped him decide.
“She told me: ‘I know it’s hard, but they’re coming for you, you have to go.’”
And so, like thousands of Haitians in recent years, Dorsainvil fled Haiti for the United States, where he was granted temporary protected status to remain in the country. And, like thousands of Haitians, he chose to settle in Springfield, Ohio, where his brother lived and the surrounding community made him feel safe and welcome.
But that sense of security has been shattered in the last week, as this small Ohio town has been inundated with threats after former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate began spreading unfounded claims that immigrants in The city is stealing and eating pets.
Clark State College, where Dorsainvil is studying nursing, closed its campuses and moved to virtual learning this week after receiving a bomb threat and a shooting threat on campus. The hospital where he works as a rehabilitation nurse was also forced to close due to threats.
Dorsainvil told CNN that living under that constant threat rekindles some of the fear he felt in Haiti.
“I told myself, ‘I came here to find some peace and I fled my country because of that, and now the same thing is happening,’” he said. “That’s difficult.”
Some may be tempted to make light of Trump’s claim during last week’s presidential debate that immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people who live there,” but for the city’s Haitian community , it’s no laughing matter.
“There are concerns for our safety and future,” said Madet Merove, a Haitian immigrant and United Methodist pastor who lives in Springfield. “I wonder what Haiti has done to the world to make them hate us so much.”
At a news conference Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine praised law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ATF, for marshalling resources to help protect Springfield.
Andy Wilson, Ohio’s public safety director, said that “every day we are receiving multiple bomb threats,” but emphasized that they have all turned out to be a hoax.
“In the environment we have, people are going to do stupid things,” Wilson said. “If you think you can provoke someone by doing something like that, calling a bomb threat, if you get caught, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The governor previously said Springfield has received more than 30 threats since late last week. Two Walmart locations and several schools have been evacuated this week due to threats. And although each was unfounded, they have contributed to the very real sense of fear and frustration in the community.
City schools reopened Tuesday with additional security from the state Highway Patrol, including tower cameras and bomb-sniffing dogs. And at a news conference later that day, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue thanked the governor for continuing to debunk false claims and urged national leaders to “moderate their words and tell the truth.”
“We didn’t have threats seven days ago, we didn’t have these concerns seven days ago, we hadn’t spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in Springfield and the state of Ohio seven days ago,” he said.
Rue has previously noted that Springfield experienced a 25% growth in population over the past three years. On its website, the city estimates that between 12,000 and 15,000 immigrants live in Springfield and surrounding Clark County.
The mayor and city officials have consistently noted that Haitian immigrants reside in Springfield legally under the Immigration Parole Program, which the Biden Administration launched in 2023 to provide “safe and orderly” pathways into the United States for nationals of Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba facing urgent humanitarian needs.
Margery Koveleski, a Haitian immigrant to the United States and longtime Springfield resident, said many Haitians choose to live in Springfield because word spread that the city was safe, the cost of living was low and there were opportunities to find work.
“It was almost like when you find a clearance sale and you get a great deal at Macy’s, you tell all your friends, and all of a sudden the stores are full,” he said.
But the sudden surge in immigrants has also put a strain on the city’s limited resources. Earlier this year, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, asking for additional federal support for the city. In it, Heck noted that population growth has made it difficult for the city to provide housing for all residents.
“Despite the additional 2,000 housing units coming online in the next three to five years, this is still not enough,” he wrote in the letter.
This month, DeWine’s office announced that the state would allocate $2.5 million to expand primary care services in the city and offer additional translation services to better address the needs of immigrant patients.
And, following an increase in traffic incidents, including a car crash involving a Haitian immigrant that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy, the governor’s office ordered the Ohio State Highway Patrol to increase enforcement of traffic. The city also plans to offer driver training aimed at Haitians and Creole speakers.
But at a recent city commission meeting, some Springfield residents said they were concerned that too many resources were going to immigrant communities instead of helping locals.
“People are really getting fed up,” said one man at the meeting. “A lot of people feel that way. “I’m not the only one, but I’m man enough to say it.”
Koveleski admitted that he has seen a lot of changes in his city in recent years. After the 9/11 attacks, she and her family left their lives in New York City and moved to what she calls “Slow-hio.” They settled in Springfield and opened a mattress store, but as the decades passed, Koveleski said the town began to decline and her family business struggled.
“We filed for bankruptcy because we couldn’t find anyone to work,” he said, adding that many local businesses experienced the same downturn.
However, that has changed, he said, with the increase in Haitian immigrants. Koveleski now works as a Haitian Creole translator and community activist.
“There are two sides to the coin, and yes (some residents) feel that it is an invasion and that we are losing a lot of resources. But we Haitians don’t want help because we are here to work. “That is the Haitian mentality: they want to add value.”
An Ohio-based temp agency told CNN that demand for work in the Springfield area is high and estimates that most of the people it connects with nearby businesses are Haitian.
“Right now, we’re probably split 60/40,” said Corey Worden, president of staffing agency Job Talent Connect.
Their agency helps connect any potential employees with area businesses that need workers. They even work with companies to help provide transportation for a small fee to those who want to work but have no way to get around: it’s a service available to any worker, not just immigrants.
Trump said Wednesday that he intends to visit Springfield “in the next two weeks.”
Mayor Rue said at a news conference Thursday that a visit by either presidential candidate would strain the city’s already limited resources.
“If he decides to change his plans, it would send an important message of peace to the city of Springfield,” he said.
Back at her apartment, Dorsainvil is reluctantly taking virtual classes, which she says are more difficult than in-person classes because English is her second language.
He said last week he saw changes in his predominantly Haitian neighborhood. People used to walk on the sidewalks and greet each other; Now they are afraid to leave their homes.
However, despite the threats, Dorsainvil said there are reasons to be hopeful.
“The last few days I felt a little depressed, but for some reason I feel better now. Do you know why? Because my teachers, coworkers, friends, even people who didn’t have my contact, contacted me in some way and asked me, ‘How are you? We love you. We need you here,’” he said. “So there is a lot of love in this society.”
Dorsainvil said he hopes to return Springfield to the way it was before the city became a political lightning rod.
And he added that he also hopes that the people of Haiti, including his fiancée and daughter, can one day experience the same tranquility and stability that brought him to the city in the first place.
“Unfortunately, we cannot receive all the Haitians who come here. We have to build a country there,” she said. “I think one day I will return (to Haiti) and help do it.”
CNN’s Omar Jiménez and Meridith Edwards reported from Springfield, Ohio, and Chelsea Bailey wrote in Washington.
