Trump doubles down on Haitian immigrant smears, dismisses concerns about inciting violence

Former President Donald Trump once again promoted a racist claim that undocumented Haitian immigrants had taken over a town in Ohio, dismissing concerns that the rhetoric was inciting violence after a series of bomb threats shut down schools and local government offices on Friday.

In a press conference at his golf club in California, Trump repeated the smears that he platformed on Tuesday at the presidential debate, claiming that Haitian immigrants were “eating the dogs” in Springfield, Ohio,

It’s not just the violence that Trump and Vance have attributed to Haitian immigrants that’s unsubstantiated. The claim that they have immigrated to the country illegally is also baseless. Haitian immigrants in Springfield are on Temporary Protected Status, a legal immigration status, the city clarified in a recently added FAQ section on its website.

Still, Trump vowed to include documented Haitians in his mass deportation scheme, which he said earlier this week “will be a bloody story.”

“We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. Large deportations. We’re gonna get these people out,” Trump said, adding that he would send them to Venezuela, not Haiti.

When asked by a reporter why he was continuing to push the debunked story, even as bomb threats plagued the city, Trump denied a chance to back down. He instead dismissed the concerns of potential violence.

“The real threat is what's happening at our border because there are thousands of people that are being killed by illegal migrants coming in, and also dying,” Trump said. “Those are your real problems, not the problem that you're talking about.”

The comments come as Haitian community members in Springfield reportedly felt scared for their lives, with back-to-back days of bomb threats disrupting life in the Ohio town.