Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s racist fear-mongering against Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, has led to violent threats against the community and the city. Now, a Haitian community group is seeking criminal charges against Trump and his running mate, citing the failure of local prosecutors to take action.
Guerline Jozef, the executive director of the national nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance, filed charges on behalf of the group in Clark County Municipal Court on Tuesday. The suit cites statements Trump and Vance made at campaign rallies and on national television and social media. The affidavit urges the court to find probable cause and issue arrest warrants for several offenses, including making false alarms, aggravated menacing and telecommunications harassment.
“[I]“If anyone else had done what they did, with the devastating consequences experienced in Springfield, the police and the District Attorney’s Office would have filed charges long ago,” the filing said.
It is rare for citizens in Ohio to file criminal affidavits against others, but state law allows it. Hearings must be held before the affidavit can proceed. None had been scheduled as of Tuesday afternoon, NBC News reported.
According to NBC News, the group’s attorney, Subodh Chandra, said Joseph was invoking his right as a citizen to file charges due to the inaction of a prosecutor.
Steven Cheung, Trump-Vance campaign communications director, told NBC News in a statement that Trump “is right to call attention to the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has led.” He went on to falsely characterize Springfield’s Haitian population as “illegal immigrants.” (Many of the city’s Haitian residents are in the U.S. legally under the federal government’s Temporary Protected Status program.)
Trump and Vance have repeatedly and falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating their neighbors’ pets and spreading infectious diseases. As a result, Haitian residents have reported harassment and fear of leaving their homes, and the small Ohio city has been the target of multiple bomb threats — 33 in the past two weeks, according to the filing.
The Republican presidential candidate has admitted that they have no credible evidence to support the claims, and Vance has even suggested that they may be fabricated. Local officials have said that there have been no credible reports of people eating pets and that there has been no increase in infectious diseases. Last week, The Wall Street Journal traced one specific claim to a Springfield resident who said her missing cat was found in her basement days later and that she apologized to her Haitian neighbors.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
