Biden lashes out at Trump over false claims about Haitian migrants

President Joe Biden lashed out Friday at Republican nominee Donald Trump for spreading false smears against Haitian immigrants in an Ohio city, as Trump dismissed threats against the community and promised deportations.

“I want to take a moment to say something [about the] Haitian American community that’s under attack in our country right now,” Biden said during a White House event celebrating Black excellence. “It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America. This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop!”

Springfield, Ohio, about 25 miles east of Dayton, was thrust into the national spotlight this week when Trump and his allies amplified unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants were abducting cats and geese for food. No evidence has been found to support the allegations, but in Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump invented the additional baseless allegation of eating dogs.

Members of the Haitian community in Springfield were granted temporary protected status in the United States after fleeing profound unrest and violence in their home country. The racist and xenophobic online rumors spread by Republicans has led to evacuations following threats to Springfield’s City Hall and elementary schools. The City Hall bomb threat on Thursday included “hateful language” about the city’s immigrant population.

[An Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in an unwelcome spotlight]

Trump dismissed a question about those dangers on Friday, talking to reporters at his Los Angeles golf course. “The real threat is what’s happening at our border,” he said. “Those are the real problems, not the problem that you’re talking about.”

If elected, Trump said he would effect “large deportations in Springfield. We’re going to get these people out,” and then indicated he would send Haitians to Venezuela. He baselessly inflated the number of migrants living there and accused them of destroying the town.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue declined to comment when told of Trump’s mass deportation remark.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also criticized Trump on Friday, referencing her heritage as a Haitian American.

Speaking as “the first Black, openly queer White House press secretary and, I’ve got to add, a proud Haitian American,” Jean-Pierre said of Biden: “I can tell you, representation matters to him. Our voices matter to him, our perspectives matter to him and our success and our community matters to him.”

Later, during the White House briefing, Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration was aware of the evacuations and bomb threats in the community. She said she would not speculate on the reasons behind those and urged local residents to listen to local authorities as they investigate. She said they have been in touch with Springfield officials since the spring and have offered federal resources to help with the influx of migrants, while also blaming Republicans for not agreeing to do more on immigration reform.

“This has been debunked, and spreading this kind of hateful conspiracy theories is indeed very dangerous,” Jean-Pierre said, asserting a need for more funding. “We have been working with Springfield, Ohio, in particular, since the spring. Since the spring,”

In response to Trump’s pledge to deport Haitians from Springfield to Venezuela, she said, “That doesn’t make any sense. That is not something that we would support.”

She also criticized congressional Republicans for not moving forward on an immigration deal that Biden has pursued. “There’s a deal out there. There’s a deal, a bipartisan deal,” she said. “They keep getting in a way, they’re voting against their own deal. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Harris-Walz campaign spokesman James Singer criticized Trump for doubling down on the Ohio conspiracy theories, as well as for defending his response to the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville “Donald Trump took his trainwreck on the debate stage straight to California,” Singer said in a statement. “In a rambling, defensive, often incoherent event to promote his golf course, he yet again showed the country how he is melting down.”

On Friday, two elementary schools were evacuated based on information received by the Springfield Police Division, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The Springfield City School District did not immediately return a voice message seeking comment.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), reiterated his criticism of migrants Friday.

Without citing evidence, Vance wrote on X: “In Springfield, Ohio, there has been a massive rise in communicable diseases, rent prices, car insurance rates, and crime. This is what happens when you drop 20,000 people into a small community.”

Vance went on to charge that Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, “aims to do this to every town in our country.”

A spokesman for Vance told The Washington Post that he would provide evidence for the senator’s claims but did not say when.

On Tuesday, Vance conceded on X, “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” before he went on to claim inaccurately that a Haitian migrant “murdered” a child in the city last year. The boy’s grieving father said Tuesday night the death of his son, Aiden Clark, was the result of an accident, and he has demanded an apology from Vance and others who have falsely described it. The 11-year-old was killed last year when the school bus he was riding in was hit by a vehicle driven by a Haitian immigrant who did not have a license.

“Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose,” Nathan Clark said at a public meeting Tuesday. He later named Vance, Trump and other politicians. “They have spoken my son’s name and use his death for political gain. This needs to stop now,” he said.

Officials in Springfield and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) have said the rumors of pet-eating migrants are unfounded.

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Cheeseman reported from Los Angeles.