JUST IN: Crimson State Governor’s Weird Ties To Haiti Revealed As He Fights Trump On TPS; 20 Return Journeys, Thousands and thousands In ‘Charity’

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s ties to Haiti date back more than 30 years, but critics say that long-running relationship has come with real consequences at home.

DeWine first visited Haiti in 1995 while serving in the U.S. Senate. What began as a brief stopover turned into more than 20 trips and a personal crusade that would later shape his views on Haitian immigration to Ohio.

During a 1998 visit to Cité Soleil, a slum in Port-au-Prince, DeWine and his wife, Fran, met Catholic priest Tom Hagan, who was operating a free school. The DeWines soon began underwriting the mission. In 1999, the schools were named for their daughter Becky DeWine, who was killed in a 1993 car accident at age 22 after graduating from college and planning a career in journalism.

Over the past five years, the DeWine Family Foundation Inc. has donated more than $2 million to Hands Together, the nonprofit that runs the schools. The organization has grown from four classrooms in 1998 to 34 schools across seven campuses in six neighborhoods, serving nearly 6,000 students.

The schools have repeatedly closed because of political instability, gang violence, and natural disasters. As of Jan. 19, all but one campus was open, according to a DeWine spokesman.

DeWine last traveled to Haiti in the summer of 2019 and has continued to portray the country as collapsing into lawlessness, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

“The situation in Haiti is as bad as it’s ever been, probably worse than it usually has been,” DeWine told the statehouse news bureau. “You have gangs that run most of the country. You have a dysfunctional police, you have a dysfunctional government. The economy is in dire straits. It’s a very dangerous country.”

If that is the case, many Ohioans wonder why DeWine is so hellbent on bringing in scores of people from a society seemingly incapable of long-term order.

WATCH: Haitian Migrant Reportedly Caught Chopping Up Animal In Springfield, OH

In 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration began blocking civilian flights into Port-au-Prince after gang members opened fire on planes.

Citing those conditions, DeWine has criticized efforts to end temporary protected status for Haitians living in the U.S. About 15,000 Haitian migrants now live in Springfield, a small city near DeWine’s home in Cedarville.

But the rapid influx has strained Springfield, native residents say, flooding a working-class city with thousands of newcomers in a short period of time. While local businesses have benefited from an expanded pool of cheap labor, longtime residents argue that the migrants have undercut wages and taken jobs once held by locals.

WATCH: Springfield, OH Mother Tells Vivek Her Daughter Was Chased By Machete-Wielding Migrant

For many in Springfield, the result has been rising competition for work, pressure on housing and public services, and lower pay across entire industries. Critics call it a lose-lose scenario for the city, one they say has been driven in part by DeWine’s long-standing advocacy and opposition to ending protected status.

As Haiti descends further into chaos, opponents argue that DeWine’s policies have exported that crisis to Ohio communities least equipped to absorb it.

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