President Joe Biden has criticized assaults during election season on the American Haitian population and called out Republican leaders for inciting fear.
During a White House brunch on September 13, 2024, that was dubbed a “celebration of Black excellence,” Biden issued a warning to Haitian Americans, saying that their group was now being targeted by attacks.
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His words were a critique of Republican front-runner Donald Trump and his choice for vice president, JD Vance, who have disseminated false information against Haitian immigrants and asylum seekers in the US.
“It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America” for that type of speech, Biden stated without specifically mentioning Trump.
He went on to say, “This has to stop, what he’s doing. This has to stop.”
At rallies around the US, former Republican presidential candidate Trump and Ohio senator Mike Vance have stoked concerns of mass immigration and violence with their strongly anti-immigrant platforms.
Both men have focused their attention in recent weeks on Springfield, Ohio’s growing Haitian American population, where racial and ethnic tensions have simmered.
Springfield, which is a part of the industrial Rust Belt of the nation, has tried to attract new residents to strengthen its local economy.
However, as the population of Haitian Americans increased, the opposition also rose. An estimated 15,000 Haitian immigrants are thought to have settled in the neighborhood; however, last year, municipal commission authorities provided a lower estimate, ranging from 4,000 to 7,000.
The municipal commission was urged by some longstanding citizens to “stop them from coming.”
When a Haitian national was engaged in an automobile accident that rolled over a school bus and killed an 11-year-old student on the first day of classes in August 2023, tensions further increased.
Although the boy’s family has urged locals to put an end to the “hate,” attacks on the Haitian American community have persisted and gained national notice.
Unfounded accusations that Haitian Americans eat dogs have been circulating the internet in recent weeks, reflecting a long-standing stereotype against immigrants in the US. Due to Trump’s recent statement “making his point” in the debate with Kamala Harris embodies this stereotype stating, “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in…They’re eating the cats.” It has become a trend on all social media platforms to mock the former president’s remarks, through comical skits, etc.
It seems that the story started with a screenshot purportedly acquired from a closed Facebook group. Moreover, representatives of the city have openly disputed that it had any substance.
Even Vance admitted that the claims were unclear. In a September 10 social media post, he stated, “Of course, it’s possible that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
A Palo Alto, California counter-protester alludes to President Trump’s scare tactics of dogs being consumed in Springfield, Ohio on September 13.
However, since then, Trump and Vance have brought up the claim several times, including at prominent gatherings like the presidential debate on September 10.
Numerous threats related to anti-immigrant sentiment have apparently been made in response to the increasing attention around Springfield. Due to a bomb threat, the municipal hall was evacuated on Thursday. Several schools and other public facilities were evacuated on Friday as a result of emails alerting people to the presence of an explosive device.
However, Trump repeated his criticism of the Haitian American community on the same day at a press conference held at his golf club outside of Los Angeles, California.
He noted, “In Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal Haitian migrants have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life.”
He further noted, “Even the town doesn’t like to talk about it because it sounds so bad for the town.”
Should he win reelection in November, he declared that the city and Aurora, Colorado, will serve as the focal points of his immigration crackdown.
“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” he remarked. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”
