Criminal charges have been filed against former president Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance over comments the pair made about Haitian immigrants in Springfield abducting and eating household pets.
Per The Associated Press, the charges were filed by the leader of the nonprofit, Haitian Bridge Alliance. The leader filed the charges on Tuesday by invoking a private-citizen right.
Trump stoked tensions during the September 10 presidential debate by re-echoing an unsubstantiated claim regarding Haitian immigrants in Ohio abducting and eating household pets. Vance, who is an Ohio senator, has also spread that false claim.
This claim, despite being proven to be false, has since been widely propagated by conservatives and the right-wing media. The Haitian-Times reported that after the allegations were circulated, Haitian families in Springfield have come under attack.
Subodh Chandra, the attorney representing Haitian Bridge Alliance, said the charges were filed against Trump and Vance because of the local prosecutor’s failure to pursue the case. Though private citizens filing charges in Ohio are uncommon, there have been instances where it has been done. As per state law, a court hearing must be held before the affidavit can progress.
The charges brought against Trump and Vance include disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing, and complicity. The nonprofit in the filing is asking the court to affirm probable cause and issue warrants for their arrest, News 5 Cleveland reported.
“The Haitian community is suffering in fear because of Trump and Vance’s relentless, irresponsible, false alarms, and public services have been disrupted. Trump and Vance must be held accountable to the rule of law. Anyone else who wreaked havoc the way they did would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said.
“There’s nothing special about Trump and Vance that entitles them to get away with what they’ve done and are doing. They think they’re above the law. They’re not.”
Per The Associated Press, the current population of Haitian immigrants in Springfield stands between 15,000 and 20,000. The immigrants, who mostly arrived in the city to work, have been granted Temporary Protected Status to lawfully reside in the United States.
But the spreading of the false claims has unsettled the city. Besides state and local government buildings, schools in the city were targeted with bomb threats, resulting in those places being evacuated and closed. Security has since been beefed up while cameras have also been installed.
“If it were anyone else other than Trump and Vance who had done what they’ve done — wreak havoc on Springfield, resulting in bomb threats, evacuated and closed government buildings and schools, threats to the mayor and his family — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said. “They are not above the law.”
