Donald Trump reiterates his attacks against immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio
Despite a request for a halt to the hostility from Springfield, Ohio’s Republican mayor, Donald Trump escalated his accusations against the immigrants residing there.
The former president seemed to be referring to the legal Haitian migrants residing in Springfield when he said, at a Monday speech in Indiana, Pennsylvania, that they had “destroyed” the city and that “you have to get them out.”
Just hours before, Trump had said on MSNBC that he is “surprised” by the way he and his running partner for 2024, JD Vance, are continuing to promote the unfounded rumor that the Haitian community in Springfield has been consuming domestic pets like cats and dogs.
“But they’re campaigning and they’re making decisions in the moment,” Rue said. “We need support, not hatred, and we will keep asking as we have in the past. We need peace, and we’re asking the national scene’s leaders to speak favorably of our city and to recognize the influence their remarks have had on it.”
Following Trump’s repeated fabrication at the ABC presidential debate with Kamala Harris that immigrants in Springfield are consuming people’s pets, the city has received threats of bombs and gunfire, forcing the cancellation of activities and schools.
Trump said during his rally in Pennsylvania that many communities had been “inundated” with migrants, “changing them forever.” When asked if Springfield “will ever be the same” again, Trump looked to the audience.
“You have to get them the heck out, that much is true. Let me say it now. You must remove them. I apologize. However, remove them. Not able to have it. “They’ve destroyed it,” Trump said, inciting the audience to cry “send them back.”
Trump’s remarks on the Haitian people at the event have drawn a lot of criticism on social media.
In response, a representative for President Trump told Newsweek: “President Trump is correctly drawing attention to the flawed immigration system that Kamala Harris has managed, which has resulted in thousands of undocumented immigrants flooding into Springfield and many other towns around the nation. “President Trump will stop this chaos and secure our border.”
Mehdi Hasan, a liberal journalist and former MSNBC anchor, shared a clip of the statements on X (previously Twitter) and wrote: “Trump calling for the ethnic cleansing of legal immigrants in the United States.”
Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel for the Pentagon, posted: “The call and reaction at the Trump rally demonstrates a new degree of racial hate. The Haitians have legal status here. The GOP governor of Ohio, the GOP mayor of Springfield, and the town’s business leaders said that Haitians are essential to their community’s development and economics, which sparked the rally screams.
Former US ambassador to Jamaica Luis Moreno continued, adding, “You grow weary of repeating it, and people don’t want to hear it. However, this is blatantly Nazi material.”
Rue seemed to imply in his MSNBC appearance that he would not be supporting Trump in November’s election.
“I am a nonpartisan mayor, and I’m going to exercise that right to represent my community in a nonpartisan way right now,” Rue said.
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine harshly denounced Trump and Vance in a recent opinion piece for The New York Times for promoting the untrue assertion that residents of the state’s Haitian community were consuming people’s cats and dogs.
“As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield,” wrote DeWine.
“This rhetoric hurts the city and its people, and it hurts those who have spent their lives there.”
