Sen. Sherrod Brown, facing tough reelection odds in November, is keeping relatively quiet about immigration — and the false conspiracy theories about Haitian migrants who live in his home state.
Ask Brown, a Democrat, about Springfield, Ohio, and he will say he wants people there to live in safety and that he is in contact with local officials about the chaos engulfing the town — which has been the target of numerous bomb threats since Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance started spreading fake claims about Haitian migrants eating pets.
“They want the politicians meddling to just leave them alone and quit turning the heat up and quit trying to score political points,” Brown told NOTUS this week. “This kind of demagoguery hurts them.”
But he has not said much to date about the people at the heart of this fight — the thousands of Haitians who are legally in Springfield — or the policies that got them to Ohio. The migrants have temporary protected status to live and work in the United States due to threats back home. Over the past few years, many of them have moved to Springfield because of job opportunities and to be with family.
When NOTUS followed up with Brown in a Capitol hallway to ask if he specifically supports the Haitian people living in Springfield, he walked away.
Brown’s apparent reluctance to talk about immigration policy as it relates to Springfield reflects a broader fear for Democrats up and down the ballot who know immigration is a salient issue for the GOP. Many of them have shifted their rhetoric accordingly, advocating for tough-on-the-border policies that are more typical of Republicans and Trump.
Since GOP politicians began sharing the baseless rumors, some immigrants in Springfield have said they are keeping their children home from school out of concern for their safety. Officials also evacuated the city hall last week after receiving a threat, schools and colleges have shut their doors in response to similar messages and a hospital had to go on lockdown on Saturday to make sure no explosives were on the premises after being threatened.
Brown condemned the threats last week: “Violence is never acceptable and this must stop before someone gets hurt,” he wrote in a statement. “Springfield faces real challenges, but the people playing politics are not helping — we need to lower the temperature and work together for the people of Ohio.”
The issue probably isn’t going away: Brown’s Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, is calling for Haitians in Springfield to be deported if Trump wins the presidency, even though they are in the United States lawfully and still face danger in Haiti. Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy also announced he would visit Springfield this week to host a town hall on the topic of immigration.
Brown got closer to speaking about Haitians this week in an interview with Andy Borowitz. He noted that Springfield needed “new people to help their economic growth,” but he avoided specifically mentioning immigration or the Haitian migrants. Instead, he turned to his signature campaign rhetoric about the importance of workers and the dignity of work.
In a statement to NOTUS on Wednesday, Brown said the situation has been frightening and unacceptable for “everyone in the community.”
But instead of answering directly when asked if he has a message for Haitian migrants, his statement blamed the government for not being prepared for Springfield’s now-larger population.
“The administration was wrong to move forward without a comprehensive plan to address issues like supporting schools, law enforcement and health care,” he said. “I’ve been working with local leaders to get the people of Springfield the resources they need, and that’s what I will continue to do.”
His Democratic colleagues, at least, appear to understand his dilemma.
Rep. Greg Landsman, also from Ohio, told NOTUS his focus is on getting the rest of the country to leave Springfield alone, to “let them go back to their day-to-day lives.”
“There are serious consequences to this misinformation,” he added. “People want to be able to send their kids to school without worrying about a bomb threat or worse. They want to be able to go to work.”
But should Democrats be more vocally supportive of the immigrants in Ohio?
Landsman, too, pivoted. His message, he reiterated, is “leave Springfield alone.”
“Let these very good people go back to their lives and stop bringing any of this national chaos to their front doors,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
Does he have a message for the Haitian migrants?
“For everyone in Springfield,” Landsman said, “I hope very soon everyone will leave you alone.”
And Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois said each lawmaker “has their own way of talking about it.”
“Sherrod Brown has been a terrific champion of working people and immigrants,” he told NOTUS.
Krishnamoorthi, born to immigrant parents, is one of the few Democrats during this final sprint to November who is willing to make a forceful, affirmative case for immigration.
“We attract the best and the brightest and the hardest working people from around the world,” he said of the United States.
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Haley Byrd Wilt is a reporter at NOTUS.