The leader of a Haitian non-profit community group has filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and JD Vance over unsubstantiated claims they made about immigrants eating the pets of other residents in Springfield, Ohio.
Several bomb threats have been recorded in the city this month because of what Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, called the pair’s efforts to “vilify and threaten” their community.
Ms Jozef said Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate Mr Vance, an Ohio senator, had spread and amplified “the debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating cats, dogs, and wildlife”.
Officials in Springfield have repeatedly said the claim that Haitian immigrants have arrived there illegally is not true, while city police have dismissed reports of migrants eating pets.
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The Haitian community group’s lawyer Subodh Chandra cited inaction by the local prosecutor in asserting Ms Jozef’s right to file the charges with Clark County Municipal Court as a private citizen.
If “anyone else” had spread such “relentless and persistent lies” they would have been arrested by now, he said in a statement on Tuesday reported by Sky’s US partner NBC News.
“They must be held accountable to the rule of law in the same way any of the rest of us would be,” said Mr Chandra.
Under Ohio law, private citizens can file criminal charges, and Mr Chandra said the move by the Haitian community group was justified because prosecutors had failed to act.
Trump-Vance campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement the former president is “rightfully highlighting” his Democrat opponent [and US Vice President] Kamala Harris’s “failed immigration system”, which he said has allowed “thousands of illegal immigrants” into “communities like Springfield and many others across the country”.
During the presidential debate against Ms Harris earlier this month, Mr Trump made the unfounded claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people that live there”.
He has continued to spread the false claims on his social media website and at rallies. Mr Vance has echoed the unfounded claims.
Read more:
How Trump’s eating pets claims began
Where did Trump’s pet-eating claims come from?
Man charged with trying to assassinate Trump
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More than 30 bomb threats have been recorded in the city this month, forcing schools and government buildings to be evacuated and closed.
Threats have also been made against the city’s mayor Rob Rue.
Ms Harris leads Mr Trump in the latest national opinion polls ahead of November’s election, which is expected to be decided by a handful of key swing states.
