A mural is seen in an alley in downtown Springfield, Ohio on September 16, 2024.
Luke Sharrett |
The unfounded claims made by former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, weaken the Republican Party's message on the border, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine wrote in an opinion piece published Friday.
“The Biden administration's failure to control the southern border is a very important issue that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance are talking about, and one that the American people are rightly deeply concerned about,” Republican DeWine wrote in the New York Times.
“But their verbal attacks against these Haitians – who are legally in the United States – dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument about the border,” he said.
The view that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have failed to stem the influx of asylum seekers at the southern border has long been a central message for Republicans on every ballot – and not just in Trump's re-election campaign.
Trump's recent claims about immigration thrust Springfield, Ohio, into the national spotlight after he and Vance – who represents the state in the Senate – spread unfounded rumors that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating city residents' pets.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine participates in a sound check at the Fiserv Forum ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention on July 14, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Andrew Caballero Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images
DeWine and local officials have repeatedly denied the allegations.
“As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, it saddens me that they and others continue to repeat unsubstantiated claims and denigrate legal immigrants in Springfield,” DeWine, a Springfield native, wrote Friday.
“This rhetoric is damaging to the city and its people, and it is damaging to those who have spent their lives there.”
In the days since Trump and Vance spread the unfounded rumors – which the Trump team knew to be false, according to the Wall Street Journal – dozens of bomb threats have led to schools in the city of Springfield being evacuated and closed.
DeWine announced Monday that Ohio State Police would conduct morning and evening raids on the city's schools. The threats, which officers revealed were a hoax, were also directed at city government buildings and a local hospital.
William Martin, a spokesman for Vance, told NBC News that the Republican vice presidential candidate was “glad” that DeWine was supporting the Trump-Vance campaign, but Vance and DeWine “do not always agree on every issue.”
In his comments, DeWine highlighted the role of Haitian immigrants in revitalizing Springfield's economy, which he said had experienced “tough times” in the 1980s and '90s.
“Now, however, Springfield is experiencing a boom in manufacturing and new jobs being created, thanks in part to the large influx of Haitian migrants who have come to the city to fill jobs over the past three years.”
“You are here legally. You are here to work.”
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