Ohio
Midwestern cities fear fallout of Trump revoking Haitian residents’ status
Like so many midwestern manufacturing-centric communities, Lima, Ohio, has dealt with slow-motion decline for decades. Famed for producing oil in the late 1800s and the Abrams army tank, its population has been on the wane since the 1970s.
But in recent years, the city has experienced a small turnaround.
A Procter & Gamble chemical plant east of the city has recently undergone a $500m expansion, adding more than 100 new jobs. Part of the chemical giant’s expansion has seen it donate tens of thousands of dollars in college scholarships to local students and millions of dollars to local road projects.
One 2024 real estate report suggested Lima was one of the hottest property markets in the country for young people.
That’s despite states such as Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, once the heart of industrial America, finding themselves fighting a shrinking homegrown population.
Immigrants from Haiti such as Amos Mercelin, who is one of several thousand people from the devastated Caribbean country now living in the Lima area, have stepped in to fill the labor shortage.
“I worked first at a plastics factory, then I did 12-hour shifts at a Fedex [warehouse]. Now I work with a healthcare organization,” he says.
“It was hard, but I knew these were just first steps.” Many Haitians, he says, work at food production plants scattered around the area, where cold temperatures and harsh physical conditions are a part of the job.
But come August, when temporary protected status (TPS) for more than half a million Haitians is set to end following an announcement by the Department of Homeland Security on 20 February, that growth could be jeopardized. For Mercelin, thousands of other Haitians and the businesses that depend on them, that could be catastrophic.
Cities such as Lima and Haitians such as Mercelin aren’t alone.
In a part of the country hit hard in the aftermath of the Great Recession, about 1,000 Haitians are believed to live in the Findlay area, a city 30 miles north-east of Lima, where one automotive company reportedly relies on immigrants for half its workforce.
Ninety miles to the south, in Springfield, about 15,000 Haitians have contributed to the city’s housing and financial revival. While the city’s property tax revenue was less than $800m in 2018, in 2023, it reached $1bn for the first time. Last year, it grew again, by 40%. While the property tax revenue increase has in part been fueled by rising property valuations, it also coincides with the growth in the number of tax-paying Haitians.
The Trump administration’s move to end TPS has led to worry among city officials in Springfield.
“They have strengthened our local economy by filling key roles in manufacturing and healthcare, even as their rapid arrival has strained public services and housing,” Springfield’s mayor, Rob Rue, a Republican, said in a statement.
“I firmly believe in protecting our borders and reforming our immigration policies. Hasty changes and swift deportation will cause hardworking immigrants to be lost, negatively impacting our economy.”
In Lima, where Haitians have been blamed by some for rising rents and housing shortages, some are expressing similar concerns.
“I’m worried for our workforces if there should be a mass exodus [of Haitian immigrants] because some of our plants and factories need them,” says Carla Thompson, a city council representative.
“People are making money from renting to them, providing services, employing them. All of that is going to go away and those were jobs that our plants and factories needed filled. If we go back to the same population that we had, how do those jobs get filled in the future?”
Voicemails and emails sent to several businesses in Lima, Springfield and Dayton – areas with broadly high levels of support for Donald Trump – known to employ Haitian immigrants were not responded to or comment was declined on whether they would be affected by the end of TPS for Haitians.
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A representative of a Springfield-based company that employed Haitian workers and whose owner faced death threats last fall at the height of the Trump-induced anti-immigrant controversy said its leadership had stopped taking media requests.
For Thompson in Lima, it’s not only businesses that could lose out if Haitians are forced to leave the country in August.
“I know the landlords have been loving it because I haven’t heard any complaints about [Haitians] not paying rent,” she says.
While larger midwestern cities such as Columbus, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh have mostly weathered the long-term regional population decline and the 2008 Great Recession that followed, smaller cities such as Lima, Springfield and Dayton have struggled.
Residents say that’s why the influx of immigrant communities in recent years seeking a low cost of living and plentiful job opportunities have played such an important economic role.
Thompson says she got word from the mayor of Findlay that crime in areas that Haitians had moved to had fallen. But she believes there is a racist undertone to the plan to end the TPS program for Haitians, which the Department for Homeland Security claims “has been exploited and abused” for decades.
“The backlash against this group has been ridiculous and there’s no way in my mind that it’s not connected to the fact that they are brown-skinned,” she says.
“Racism has been an issue. Some people are probably excited that TPS is being stopped.”
For Mercelin, who has been in Lima for a year, the prospect of the end of TPS is disastrous.
“Some Haitians are talking about applying for asylum to help them stay here, but I can’t,” he says. “I have a daughter in Haiti and if I apply for asylum, it means I can’t go back there for something like seven years.
“That’s something I just cannot do.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kylee Kitts scored 13 points, Jaloni Cambridge added 11 and No. 21 Ohio State rolled past Norfolk State 79-45 on Thursday night for its eighth straight win.
Dasha Biriuk added 10 points for Ohio State, which is 10-1 overall and 7-0 at home.
Kitts was 6 of 12 from the field, and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with two steals and two blocks. Cambridge was 4-of-8 shooting and had eight rebounds and two steals.
Cambridge scored seven points in the first quarter as the Buckeyes jumped out to a 20-10 lead and built a 43-21 halftime advantage. Kitts and Cambridge each scored nine first-half points.
Ohio State outrebounded Norfolk State 55-32 and scored 21 points off 17 turnovers.
Jasha Clinton scored 18 points to lead Norfolk State (5-9). Ciara Bailey had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Up next
Norfolk State plays at Elon on Sunday.
Ohio State hosts Western Michigan on Mondahy.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio is part of a multistate lawsuit settlement against home improvement store Menards.
According to the state Attorney General’s Office, Ohio and nine other states reached the settlement with Menards, a Wisconsin-based home-improvement retail store, over allegations of deceptive rebate advertising.
The 10-state led investigation revealed that Menards would give shoppers the impression that they were getting an immediate discount while shopping through its advertising, when in fact, savings actually came in the form of a rebate or in-store credit.
The investigation raised concerns with Menards’ marketing strategy and sales practices, alleging the following of the company:
- Advertised 11% off or 11% off everything that suggested an instant price cut, even though customers received only a rebate on future purchases.
- Listed prices already at an 11% discount, reinforcing the idea that shoppers were getting an in-store discount.
- Failed to clearly explain the important limits of the rebate program, burying key details in the fine print.
- Tell customers that Rebates International was a separate company handling rebates, even though it is operated by Menards itself.
The settlement, announced Thursday, included an agreement by Menards that it would, in part, discontinue ads suggesting immediate discounts, clearly explaining the rules, limits, and conditions of its rebate program, and offer customers an easier path towards claiming rebates, both in person and online, among other changes.
In addition, Menards will pay participating states $4.25 million in fees, of which $365,173.05 will go toward the Ohio Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Enforcement Fund.
The honors continue to roll in for this Ohio State Buckeyes football team.
From young players ready for another College Football Playoff run next season to players hungry for one more run starting December 31 before the NFL Draft, this Ohio State Buckeyes team is loaded with talent headed into their seventh playoffs appearance since the CFP era began in 2014.
Five defensive players and four offensive players headlined a class of extremely talented Buckeyes. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza took the No. 1 spot to go along with his Heisman and Maxwell honors.
An offensive Ohio State Buckeye took the No. 2 spot right behind Mendoza.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith takes the No. 2 spot
Jeremiah Smith was ranked behind Mendoza along with his gun-slinging sophomore quarterback. Julian Sayin was the second-highest ranked quarterback on the list at No. 5.
“Smith caught 80 balls for 1,086 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore, but that doesn’t really tell the story…Smith commands double-teams constantly, draws the attention of everyone’s best corner, and has every defensive coordinator he faces scheming to slow him down. And none of it has mattered.”
ESPN’s David Hale
Smith is expected to have one more dominant season with the Buckeyes next season where fans hope to see him paired next to five-star recruit Chris Henry Jr. Senior wide receiver Carnell Tate has been an impressive receiving mate for Smith the past two seasons. Tate caught 48 passes, nine touchdowns, and had 838 yards. He ranked No. 26 in the rankings.
Offensive tackle Austin Siereveld ranked No. 44 as well.
The defense takes over
All five of Ohio State’s defensive players on the list ranked inside the top-22. Junior linebacker Sonny Styles sat at No. 21 to kick things off for the defense. The Buckeyes have had the best defense in college football for the entire season and these are the names that have made it happen. Projected first round NFL Draft Arvell Reese took the No. 16 spot.
“A new set of stars emerged to lead the nation’s No. 1 defense this fall, and Reese was undeniably front and center. He has thrived under new coordinator Matt Patricia, recording 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss from the edge position and finished second on the squad with 62 total tackles…Reese was named Big Ten’s Linebacker of the Year and recorded a sack in six of Ohio State’s first eight games of the season.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg
Defensive linemen Kayden McDonald and Caden Curry ranked at No. 13 and No. 11 respectively. Safety Caleb Downs was the highest ranked defensive Buckeye at No. 7. Downs is a simply a lockdown player who can play corner or safety while still being able to tackle at a high level. If he chooses to declare for the NFL Draft after the season is over, he’ll be slated to go within the top 10 in most mock drafts.
Opposing quarterbacks only targeted downs 20 times for the entire season. Only nine passes were caught on his watch as the primary defender.
“The longest completion he gave up was 17 yards. A 14-yard completion in the second quarter of the Big Ten title game was the first one he’d given up in nearly two months. There is not a more lockdown corner in the country than Downs.”
ESPN’s David Hale
The Ohio State Buckeyes are waiting for the winner of the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoffs this Saturday at 12:00pm Eastern on ABC/ESPN.
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