Springfield Haitians Come Under Attack, Haitians For Trump Silent

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tuesday. September 10, 2024: While Republican VP candidate and Ohio US Senator JD Vance spread a baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio have been eating cats as well as ducks and geese, Haitians for Trump, led by Madgie Nicolas, remain silent .

Vance’s claim, “…that people have had their pets stolen and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country” has gone viral. House Judiciary GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and Elon Musk, the owner of X, also tweeted about the claim on Monday. Cruz, a Republican from Texas, posted a meme on X showing two cats holding each other, with the caption “Please vote for Trump so the Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”

Nicolas, who states on her Instagram profile that she is a “former adviser to the 45th president and chairman @haitianfortrumpofficial” recently held a rally for Trump in Florida. She claims to have served on several political campaigns, including presidential, gubernatorial, congressional and local campaigns at every level and has been a nominee and surrogate for 45th President Donald J. Trump in Black Voices for Trump.

But in light of the racist attacks, she remains silent. She has dismissed racist attacks from Trump in the past, saying “it’s a dirty war” and “Democrats tend to play the victim.”

Officials in Springfield, Ohio, said they have received no credible reports of Haitian immigrants kidnapping and eating pets, despite viral claims on social media that have been amplified by Republican vice presidential candidate Vance and others.

Haitian US Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick called Vance’s latest comments “a shameful, racist lie” and “below the dignity of any public office, let alone the Senate or the Vice Presidency.”

“It is disgusting and shameful that someone seeking the second highest office in the country would stoop to such baseless and hateful rhetoric,” she said. “Instead of peddling these lies, Vance would be better suited to continue writing his fictional stories and testing his couch. This is just another page from the same old Republican playbook using fear, division and racism to distract from their lack of real solutions for the American people. We deserve better and JD Vance has no place in the Senate, let alone the White House.

The Congressional Black Caucus has so far not issued any statement on the matter.

Meanwhile, on Google, bad reviews began to populate the reviews section of the Springfield Haitian organization, the Haitian Community Assistance and Support Center, a non-profit organization that was founded on December 12, 2023 there. “Thanks for importing people who eat neighborhood animals and wild animals,” Benjamin Harrison posted while Dawn Bailey posted: “they make terrible cooking and for some reason my bike gets stolen every time I come here.”

Haitians in Springfield

Immigrants from Haiti who have achieved legal status under the Temporary Protected Status program have moved into Springfield in the past five years, and estimates are rising each month, with city officials now saying the number could be 15,000 to 20,000 new residents. in a population that had previously numbered just under 60,000.

Located in an industrial stretch of the middle United States known as the Rust Belt, Springfield was once a major manufacturing center, home to major printing and machinery companies.

But when factories began to close, the town shrank. A third of Springfield’s population has left since the 1980s.

So when hundreds — then thousands — of Haitians started moving into Springfield, the city of 60,000 got the population boost it was looking for.

About 4,000 to 7,000 Haitians have arrived in recent years, according to officials at the Springfield City Commission. Overall, the number of Haitian-born residents in the US has reached 730,780, according to the 2022 census.

Many escaped poverty and violence. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the proliferation of gangs, particularly in the Port-au-Prince area, has forced thousands of people to flee. Some have used immigration routes such as the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program to travel to the US.

At first, Springfield welcomed the newcomers. In 2014, the city launched a Welcome to Springfield campaign designed to attract foreign-born residents and boost the local economy.

Haitians began filling labor shortages on local farms and businesses such as Dole Fresh Vegetables, one of the world’s largest produce companies. Caribbean cafes opened in shopping plazas where supermarkets had closed. And Haitian families began flocking to events like the annual Clark County Fair, filling the air with the sounds of Haitian Creole.

But demographic changes in Springfield sparked a backlash — one that peaked in late August 2023. It was 8:15 a.m. Tuesday when Hermanio Joseph, a 35-year-old Haitian national, was driving a Honda Odyssey minivan. of 2010 in the near future. traffic.

A school bus headed in the opposite direction, with dozens of children on board heading to their first day of school for the school year. One would never arrive.

Eleven-year-old Aiden Clark was thrown from the bus as it ran off the road and overturned. He died at the scene. Twenty-three other children were injured, including one seriously. Joseph was ultimately charged with two felonies: involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

Springfield erupted with grief at the news of the accident. Some residents channeled their anger at the Haitian community as a whole.

Anger came close to spilling over at a City Commission meeting on Aug. 29, where Mayor Warren Copeland struggled to maintain order. “Just be quiet, okay?” it was snapped during an explosion.

For almost two hours, residents came to the podium to speak. Some warned of an invasion of Haitians and the crime they would supposedly bring. Another person was outraged that the Haitian flag had been raised at City Hall as part of the Flag Day celebrations. The police officers stationed around the room moved restlessly from foot to foot.

“I want to know: Who is bringing them in by bus?” Who is responsible for this and who can stop them from coming?” asked one resident, echoing rumors that Haitian migrants had arrived en masse by bus.

One woman who rose to speak suggested that Springfield had become a “sanctuary city,” a term used to describe municipalities that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. City officials assured that had not happened.

“There are people who are here who are not native Springfielders,” she continued, as another audience member yelled, “Illegal!” She replied, “Exactly.”

Some pleaded with the community to be tolerant. Rob Rue — a city commissioner who was recently elected to succeed Copeland as mayor — reminded the crowd, “Reckless driving is not just in the immigrant community.”

“There are a lot of young people in our community,” Rue told the roaring audience. “I understand that. It is a concern. Because there are cultures that collide.”

The parents of the 11-year-old boy killed in the accident also called for an end to the outrage in a public statement in October.

“We do not want our son’s name to be associated with the hate being spread at these meetings,” wrote Danielle and Nathan Clark. Aiden embraced different cultures and would insist you do the same.

Mayor Rob Rue told residents at the last commission meeting that the city did not know about the possibility of a large immigrant population coming, but said a “network of businesses knew what was coming.”

He said the city’s Immigrant Accountability Task Force, which was formed last fall, has uncovered the possibility that the companies “knew they were going to make an effort to bring in individuals who were crossing the border.”

Rue said he was upset that the city didn’t have a chance to plan for immigrants.

“Springfield is now saturated,” he said.

In April, Rue and two other Springfield officials — Bryan Heck, city manager, and Jason Via, deputy director of public safety and operations — went to Washington, D.C., to meet with representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizen of the United States and Immigration Services and the US Department of Labor to ask how the federal government can help.