The leader of a Haitian community organisation that is not-for-profit has filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and JD Vance for making unfounded accusations about immigrants devouring the pets of other residents in Springfield, Ohio. The community group’s leader made the allegations.
Due to what Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, referred to as the pair’s efforts to “vilify and threaten” their community, the city has been the target of many bomb threats on multiple occasions this month.
By spreading and amplifying “the debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating cats, dogs, and wildlife,” Ms. Jozef stated that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential contender, and Mr. Vance, an Ohio senator, had spread and expanded the lie.
There have been other instances in which officials in Springfield have stated that the assertion that Haitian immigrants have come there illegally is not true. Additionally, the local police have disputed accusations that migrants have been eating pets.
In his argument that Ms. Jozef had the legal right to bring the charges with the Clark County Municipal Court as a private citizen, the attorney for the Haitian community group, Subodh Chandra, highlighted the inaction of the local prosecutor as the reason for his assertion.
In a statement, he asserted that “anyone else” who had spread such “relentless and persistent lies” would have been in jail by this time.
“They must be held accountable to the rule of law in the same way any of the rest of us would be,” according to Mr. Chandra.
Mr. Chandra claimed that the prosecutor’s office had not taken any action, so the action by the Haitian community group was appropriate. According to Ohio law, private persons have the ability to file criminal charges.
In a statement, the communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign, Steven Cheung, said that the former president is “rightfully highlighting” his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, who is also the Vice President of the United States. Cheung stated that Kamala Harris’s “failed immigration system” has allowed “thousands of illegal immigrants” to enter “communities like Springfield and many others across the country.”
During the presidential debate earlier this month, when he was facing off against Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump made the unfounded claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people that live there.”
During rallies and on his social media page, he has continued to spread the bogus assertions that he has been making. Mr. Vance has echoed the accusations that could not be proven.
During the course of this month, the city has been subjected to over thirty bomb threats, which has resulted in the evacuation and closure of schools and government facilities.
There have also been threats made against Rob Rue, who serves as the mayor of the city.
According to the most recent national opinion polls conducted in advance of the election in November, which is anticipated to be decided by a small number of critical swing states, Ms. Harris is now in the lead over Mr. Trump.