Councilman Derry Glenn and Lima NAACP president Ron Fails respond to a question at a forum Wednesday night.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Residents at a forum on immigration in the Lima community came away with better feelings than at the previous endeavor in May.
Councilman Derry Glenn said he was proud to provide answers to the questions that residents asked at that forum and to push back on unsubstantiated rumors.
“I’m glad we researched some of the questions and gave some answers to them,” he said. “That was the main thing we wanted to do.”
Glenn consulted sources such as the Lima Police, Mayor Sharetta Smith and Lima schools for answers to questions about why Haitian residents are moving to the area, what their immigration status is and what the school district is doing to assist students of Haitian descent.
Smith said in a response the city is not receiving state or federal aid to offer financial assistance to the city’s Haitian population.
Glenn said the police told him no one of Haitian descent they have encountered has been found to not have a green card.
Glenn used one resident, a worker at Nickles Bakery, as an example of someone who came to town on word of mouth, who arrived in the United States through a port of entry under temporary protected status, something he said employers perform background checks for prior to hiring.
Resident Jack Miller thought the forum went well but expressed skepticism of these claims and regret that other residents in need might be missing out on benefits.
“It’s all right to help people if they are here legally, and everybody has a right to a job,” he said. “But we can’t put anyone that’s not from America before Americans. They say this is not happening, but that’s not the way I see it.”
Miller said he noticed an increase in shootings despite a response Glenn shared from LPD Chief Angel Cortes saying the department had not experienced any significant changes in crime during 2024.
Lima NAACP president Ron Fails said his experience working with Haitian residents showed him they were willing to move on quickly if they did not find work.
“These are not people who are freeloaders,” he said. “They will not overburden the community because if they don’t find suitable employment, they will look at opportunities in other cities where they know people already living there.”
An uproar erupted near the end of the forum over Lima schools offering tablets and other translation devices to 95 students with limited English proficiency. Glenn said the devices were purchased with COVID-era funding prior to the students, 34 of whom speak Haitian Creole, enrolled in the district and could be reused.
“I think this was a great meeting,” he said. “We’ll continue to have more meetings, and we’ll bring some more information to answer the questions people keep asking.”
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
