The Heat on Monday took aim at intensifying political rhetoric involving the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, and condemned threats toward Haitians.
In a statement to its five million followers on the social media platform X, the Heat said: “The Miami Heat staff, like Miami itself, is a diverse and brilliant mix of vibrant cultures, including many members of our Haitian community. The false narrative surrounding them is hurtful and offensive and has sadly made innocent people targets of hateful speech and physical threats. Our Haitian employees, fans and friends deserve better.”
Springfield has become the epicenter of a national debate on immigration in recent weeks, amid claims by former President Donald Trump — amplified by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio — that Haitian refugees are “destroying” the town of 58,000 in southwest Ohio.
During the presidential debate last week, Trump repeated claims, spread for weeks in right-wing circles, that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating dogs and other pets.
In an appearance on ABC on Sunday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called the rumors about Haitians “garbage” and “simply not true,” adding: “There’s no evidence of this at all.
“The Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence.”
Springfield’s mayor, Rob Rue told the BBC: “People’s pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio. We do not have any evidence that has happened, and I’ve made it known in multiple interviews that this is absolutely not true.”
Since the debate, several municipal buildings in Springfield have been the targets of bomb threats. Rue told The New York Times that those threats “were a hateful response to immigration in our town.”
Wittenberg University, a liberal arts college in Springfield, informed students that an email sent Saturday threatened a shooting and another email included a bomb threat.
During an interview with NBC this past weekend, Vance disputed that the pet-eating claims were unfounded, saying “I hear you saying that they’re baseless, but I’m not repeating them because I invented them out of thin air.
“I’m repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening. Clearly, these rumors are out there because constituents are seeing it with their own eyes.”
The Heat statement did not specifically mention Springfield or Trump.
Miami-Dade County has one of the nation’s largest concentrations of people of Haitian descent; some estimates have suggested that more than 300,000 people in the area have Haitian ancestry.
The Heat has routinely commented on social and political issues over the past 20 years, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and condemning the terrorist group Hamas’ attack of Israel last October.
Local News
Comments / 0