Donald Trump Says He’ll Kick Out Legal Haitian Migrants if Elected, as GOP Ohio Officials Defend New Neighbors

Mar. 15, 2025

Donald Trump; Mike DeWine.Photo:Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty; Jason Whitman/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty; Jason Whitman/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Trump, 78, told aNewsNationreporter on Oct. 2 during a fundraiser in Texas that he plans to “remove” Haitian immigrants from Springfield if he wins the 2024 presidential election. “It has nothing to do with Haiti or anything else. You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country,” Trump told the outlet.

“Springfield is such a beautiful place. Have you seen what’s happened to it? It’s been overrun. You can’t do that to people. I’d revoke [their protected status], and I’d bring [the migrants] back to their country,” he continued.

At thepresidential debateagainst Vice PresidentKamala Harrison Sept. 10, Trump platformed the conspiracy theory about Haitian residents in Springfield that his running mate, Ohio Sen.J.D. Vance, had shared on social media earlier in the week.

“In Springfield, [Ohio,] they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there, and this is what’s happening in our country,” he claimed on the debate stage, which was fact-checked as false in real-time.

Trump’s sweeping allegations against Haitian people and immigrants quickly put a spotlight on the Ohio town and led todozens of bomb threats throughout Springfield, causing the state’s Republican governor and Springfield’s Republican mayor to step up and defend their new neighbors.

“We’re a nation of immigrants and we have to continue to have people come into this country who want to work and want to contribute,” DeWine said later on. “That’s how we have vitality.”

To show that he stands with the Haitian community as they face threats from MAGA Republicans, DeWine has attended Creole services at the town’s St. Raphael’s Church, according to Politico. He has also been assisting the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to help get driving forms translated into Creole, the national language of Haiti.

Mike DeWine in 2018.Kirk Irwin/Getty Images

“Obviously, the negative response and threats are very sad and hard to handle,” he told the publication. “We want to move forward together, and it just makes it more difficult to do that when we have violent actions and threats.”

Rue also called it “frustrating” when politicians “mischaracterize what is actually going on and misrepresent our community,” when given a national audience, referring to another incident that put Springfield in the spotlight.

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Aiden’s father, Nathan Clark, seemingly called out Vance, claiming that the Ohio senator was exploiting Aiden’s death for political gain.

“This tragedy is felt all over this community, the state and even the nation, but don’t spin this towards hate,” he said during a Springfield City Commission meeting on Sept. 10.

Rob Rue in 2024.DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty

DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty

“I am sorry this is going on in our community and that they have to endure this type of hate,” he told theNew York Times.

source: people.com