Why Springfield Ohio?

The population of Haiti is just under 12 million, and in the past few years around 300,000 of them have come to the United States. The population of Springfield, Ohio is around 58,000, and in the past few years, they have experienced a remarkably sudden and massive influx of new residents: 20,000 Haitians. So 7% of those who left Haiti for a better life in America moved to Springfield, Ohio.

Much has been written about this. Republicans are complaining that this could have a negative impact on the social structure and financial viability of Springfield. Democrats are rolling their eyes and saying that Haitians don't eat cats. But I'm stuck on a question further upstream: How did Springfield, Ohio suddenly become such a popular destination for Haitians? Is it really possible that just spontaneously, for no reason, 20,000 Haitians woke up one morning and all said in unison, "You know, I'd love to move to Springfield, Ohio. Wherever that is." Ok, so if we presume that all those individual Haitians didn't decide on Springfield, then who did?

On a lark last week, one day in the office I asked every patient I saw if they had ever been to Springfield, Ohio. None of them had. What did they know about the town? Nothing, really. And remember, I practice in South Carolina. Surely the results of such a survey would be similar in Haiti. I presume most people in Haiti have never heard of Springfield. Heck, a lot of them have probably never heard of Ohio. So how did so many of them end up there?

Somebody just HAD to have done this intentionally. This must have been deliberate. Heck, just planning the transport issues involved must have been challenging. So this must have been carefully planned. Ok, fine. By who? Who decided on Springfield? And who planned all the logistics etc? That's an enormous undertaking.

And why? Why Springfield? There are a lot of towns of similar size across America. Why Springfield, Ohio?

And how? Moving 20,000 people from various places in Haiti to a small town in the Midwest like Springfield would be very expensive. At $1,000 per airline ticket, that's $20 million. Plus buses, food, communications, and what have you - it had to cost, what, $30 million - $40 million or so, for the entire operation. The Haitian immigrants themselves do not appear to be wealthy. Ok, so who paid for all that?

From there, the questions just keep coming. But I'm really just interested in those three.

Who, exactly, did this?

Who paid for it?

And why? Why Springfield, Ohio?

I would love to know the answers to those three questions.

And one more, come to think of it. Why isn't our media interested in those questions? That would be interesting to know, as well.

Of course, instead of "Why Springfield?," one could ask, "Why Haiti?" Whoever did this, why didn't they decide to move 20,000 Brazilians to Springfield? Or Australians? Or Mexicans? How did they come up with Haiti?

Does anyone have any theories? I'd love to hear them.

This simply cannot be random. So how precisely did it happen?

Who did it?

Who paid for it?

Why Springfield, Ohio?

I appreciate your help in answering these simple questions.