OPINION:
As the news media continues to celebrate and prop up Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy, the consequences of her and President Biden’s policies are wreaking havoc on cities and communities across the United States.
Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colo., are two examples that have recently earned some notoriety.
Matt Himes with The Blaze recently published an article that contained quotes from real people who live in Springfield, Ohio, who addressed their city’s commission meetings in August.
As Mr. Himes said, they were “people you won’t see quoted in the New York Times.”
I would encourage anyone to read what they had to say. The story of Springfield they told was abhorrent.
According to the city’s Immigrant Accountability Response Team, the city saw an influx of approximately 20,000 immigrants, mostly from Haiti, from 2020 to 2025. Keep in mind that Springfield’s official population is only about 58,000 people—and that’s a 7,000-person decline over the last 24 years. So, a 20,000-person increase is massive.
Residents complained of trash piling up on streets, dangerous driving, homelessness, people squatting on their properties, overstressed health care services, and a host of other issues you would expect from a sudden, unplanned, 34% population increase.
As one resident noted, on a practical level, “We don’t have the resources to do this properly.”
But other residents spoke of far more acute problems.
One resident named Shannon said she had seen immigrants butchering roadkill on the side of the road, stealing animals from farmers and leaving their decapitated heads, and making stew out of birds they caught in local parks.
In another report by the Federalist, a man had called police in Springfield after seeing a group of four Haitian immigrants hunting geese in a public park.
“I’m sitting here, I’m riding on the trail, I’m going to my orientation for my job today, and I see a group of Haitian people, there was about four of ’em, they all had geese in their hand,” according to a 911 recording.
As Shannon told the Springfield City Commission: “This is insanity, and it has to stop. What will become of Springfield? Where will we be in five years? The thought terrifies me. Will it be some sort of dystopian wasteland — with most of our original residents having moved away and those that cannot afford to move being locked inside their homes living in fear?
“This thought is keeping me awake at night. I just want the old Springfield back. I know it was far from perfect, but at least it was still ours.”
In Aurora, Colo., we are seeing what happens when violent gang members are allowed to enter our country unchecked. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said last month that Venezuelan gangs had infiltrated several apartment complexes in the city.
The statement came after a video of armed gunmen knocking down doors in an Aurora apartment complex went viral.
There are differing reports about the gang’s level of control of the properties, but that argument is almost beside the point.
The fact is: Heavily armed Venezuelan gang members are acting with impunity in Aurora – and the people of Aurora are having to live with that because the Biden-Harris administration specifically (and the Democratic Party generally) have abandoned securing the border.
As the House Committee on Homeland Security reported in June, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol had encountered nearly 10 million people illegally crossing the Southwest border since Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris took office. There were also another 2 million “get-aways” reported at that time.
For comparison, there were only about 3.1 million encounters at the border during the entirety of President Donald Trump’s first term.
If Ms. Harris is elected president, there is no indication she would suddenly start policing the border – or deporting those she has already invited here.
It’s more likely that your hometown will follow the paths of Springfield and Aurora.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.
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