'Large deportations': Trump threatens Ohio Haitians at campaign event in California

The presidential run of Donald Trump continues to be marred by his false accusations against Haitian migrants in Ohio, exacerbated by a recent campaign promise that he will deport many from Springfield if he is elected in November.

“I can say this: We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio,” the former president said during a press conference this month at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country and we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”

The Republican presidential nominee and his running mate, the Catholic Sen. J.D. Vance, have shared similar comments about migrants in Ohio, including Haitians in Springfield and Venezuelans in Aurora, dating back months. Since the summer, rumors of Haitians eating neighbors’ household pets and stealing animals from public property have been spread by conservative voters and activists seeking to paint Democrats as enablers of open borders.

A bipartisan response has clarified that the claims against Haitians are without evidence. Local officials in Springfield say they told Vance’s office as early as Sept. 9 that the reports of stolen pets were false, as first reported in The Wall Street Journal.

Vance, however, had already put his public support behind the allegations against his Black Caribbean constituents, and has continued to stand by his words even after they were definitively debunked. 

The National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON) responded in a statement on Sept. 11, calling the Ohio senator’s remarks “inflammatory and baseless.”

“NHAEON stands unwaveringly with the Haitian community in Springfield and across the United States. We will not allow xenophobic rhetoric to overshadow the truth of our people's positive impact.”

Nevertheless, Trump has since joined Vance in condemning Haitian immigrants to Ohio, who have arrived in large numbers over several years to fill jobs left vacant in factories and other industries.

“In Springfield, [Ohio,] they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said during the nationally televised presidential debate on Sept. 10 with the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

He was quickly fact-checked by moderator David Muir, but neither Trump nor Vance has budged in the days since.

Ohio public officials note that many Haitians in Ohio have reported that they fear violence from their detractors in the wake of a national smear campaign against the community, which numbers up to 15,000 in the Springfield region. Mayor Rob Rue issued an emergency proclamation on Sept. 19 in an attempt to quell rising tensions, which he says is for “ensuring the safety of Springfield’s residents.”

Most Haitian migrants in Ohio have fled civil instability in their home country, which reportedly has no elected officials in power amid the fallout of a 2021 presidential assassination, a devastating earthquake the same year, and an ongoing gang war in the nation’s capital.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, a Springfield native and a Catholic, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Sept. 20 that the Haitians in the area are “there legally” and “there to work.”

“The Biden administration’s failure to control the southern border is a very important issue that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance are talking about and one that the American people are rightfully deeply concerned about. But their verbal attacks against these Haitians—who are legally present in the United States—dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument about the border.”

Local Church leaders, too, have responded to the controversy, calling the false accusations from the Trump campaign a repeat of anti-immigrant bias in America dating back to its earliest (and even colonial) years.

“As the residents of Springfield, Ohio struggle with violent threats and life disruptions fueled by unfettered social media posts, we exhort the Catholic faithful and all people of goodwill not to perpetuate ill will toward anyone involved based on unfounded gossip,” the state’s Catholic bishops wrote in an open letter published by America magazine on Sept. 19.

“Let us reject a mindset of judging who belongs to our community and put on the mind of Christ to understand that God walks with all his people, especially those in need.”

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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