A nonprofit representing Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio, has filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, the Republican Party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees, due to their repeated spread of racist lies regarding immigrants in the city.
A rarely used Ohio law allows private citizens to file such charges when local prosecutors fail to do so. A public hearing is required to decide whether charges should move forward — if they do, the case would become yet another legal battle for Trump during the presidential election season.
Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for humane immigration policies with an emphasis on Haitian people, accuses Trump and Vance of spreading racist falsehoods about Haitian residents of Springfield that have directly endangered the city and the Haitians living there.
“33 bomb threats, schools and government offices have received racially charged threats” because of Trump and Vance’s statements, the group said in an Instagram post. “Enough is enough. No one is above the law. Hate will always have consequences.”
The organization accuses the Republican presidential ticket of several charges, including disrupting public service by inciting bomb and other threats to the community; causing false alarms by knowingly and continually spreading the lies; committing telecommunications harassment by spreading the lies on television and social media; committing aggravated menacing by making the statements with the intent to abuse and/or threaten residents; and more.
Haitian Bridge Alliance is being represented by Subodh Chandra, lead counsel of the Chandra Law Firm. Said Chandra about the charges:
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.
“There’s nothing special about Trump and Vance that entitles them to get away with what they’ve done and are doing,” Chandra added. “They think they’re above the law. They’re not.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign asserted that he and Vance were within their right to spread the lies because they highlighted their views on immigration. Earlier this month, Vance seemingly admitted that he knew the racist claims were false but chose to spread them anyway.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance said.
Notably, there’s no evidence of any “suffering” in the city caused by immigration. Rather, as a result of the racism peddled by Trump and Vance, city buildings in Springfield have received dozens of bomb threats, including toward K-12 schools, prompting their closures. Haitian immigrants have also faced violent acts of harassment as a result of the lies: One resident detailed how her car windows had been broken and the exterior of her vehicle covered in acid shortly after Trump spread the falsehoods during his September 10 debate with Harris.
The charges against Trump and Vance are not political, Haitian Bridge Alliance said, but are necessary to combat racism against members of the community.
“This is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric, and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering,” Haitian Bridge Alliance said on X.
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