SPRINGFIELD—A staffing agency that brought Haitian migrants to Springfield is apparently under investigation by the FBI and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost as part of a human trafficking inquiry.
A bombshell report suggests George Ten, who runs a staffing agency, First Diversity Staffing, based in Springfield but with offices around Ohio and in North Carolina, is the target of investigation. Ohio.news is working to confirm with officials that an active investigation has been opened.
It is debated as to whether Haitian migration to Springfield occurred organically or at the hand of other entities. Chains of nonprofit organizations and NGOs that collect hundreds of millions in DHS grants to resettle migrants are known to be active in America’s immigration landscape.
Now, staffing agencies have come into focus in explaining how 20,000 Haitian migrants came to overwhelm the town of Springfield, a struggling city of 58,000.
Investigative journalist Asra Nomani wrote in Jewish Journal that “FBI anti-trafficking agents and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost are investigating the allegations of human trafficking in Springfield,” specifically trained on Ten and First Diversity.
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Ohio.news that they knew of an investigation taking place into Ten’s affairs. Officials have yet to comment on an investigation into Ten or First Diversity, but Yost’s office did say the Attorney General ordered a “deep dive” into the situation in Springfield.
Nomani’s reporting indicated that First Diversity employees were directed to focus on Haitian migrants over local hires in 2019. The company’s website lets applicants fill out general applications for New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Temporary staffing agencies appear to be a key link in the chain for Haitians’ arrival in Springfield. Staffing agencies can fill vacancies for employers, charging a standard hourly wage to the employer, but collect a significant share of the wages.
Nomani’s investigation of Ten at First Diversity revealed Ten’s lavish lifestyle in an exclusive golf course community in nearby Greene County — and that Ten owns many rental properties where the migrants live, backed by a major tailwind from government funds.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE. MUST WATCH. MUST READ. My newest dispatch @JewishJournal @DPearlProject will blow your mind. It did mine. And reporting it breaks my heart but I persevere because this story is every city’s story of corruption, greed and power.
— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) September 18, 2024
I came to Springfield, Ohio, on… pic.twitter.com/514h6fLsKF
Housing has become a flashpoint in Springfield, with citizens telling Ohio.news the difficulty of finding an apartment because landlords can collect more from Haitian tenants, who have Temporary Protected Status, and qualify for significant government benefits.
Haitian migrants with TPS qualify for a host of government benefits.
Ten’s father Miguel is a local evangelical pastor who converted to Christianity in prison. Miguel Ten’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a regional human resources director at First Diversity.
Mike Calabrese, who operates a local non-profit Opportunity for Individual Change, told Ohio.news that there was chatter around Springfield that the shuttering of the cruise-line industry during the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed Haitian migrants’ arrival in Springfield.
OIC suspended its funding of housing assistance under the COVID-era American Rescue Plan earlier this year.
Faith leaders denied migrants had arrived at the hand of entities like NGOs that specialize in refugee and migrant resettlement. But citizens of Springfield told Ohio.news they had witnessed the arrival of buses and vans at gas stations along Interstate 70. Video surfaced in Alabama confirming that migrants had been relocated via bus.
DHS funding of migrant and refugee resettlement is big business, with billions in grant money on the table. NYAP, based in Columbus, collects hundreds of millions through DHS’ Unaccompanied Youth program. Sen. Chuck Grassley opened an investigation into nonprofits in the migrant trade, including NYAP.
Catholic Charities, itself a major vector of migrant movement and recipient of DHS grants for migrant resettlement, opened a new office in Springfield in response to the surge.
At Springfield’s Office of Job and Family Services on Lagonda Avenue, strings of migrants filter through the line daily speaking Haitian-Creole with employees. The site hosts Catholic Charities literature in Haitian Creole offering help applying for Temporary Protected Status, and with it, government benefits.
Now, it is becoming clear that Springfield came to be the home of 20,000 migrants through a network of nonprofits, private businesses like First Diversity, and now major landlords have the opportunity to capitalize on the new form of public-private partnership.
Follow Ohio.news for news and updates.
