The political campaign engineered by Donald Trump and the Republican Party targeting a large number of Haitian workers in Springfield, Ohio, signifies a key moment in the turmoil engulfing American politics. Fueled by Trump, Vance and the Republican Party, a threatening atmosphere of violence has impaired public life in this working-class city with 60,000 people. An evident shift in Trump’s strategy as the November elections approach sees his call to arms to his far-right followers transitioning from cautionary stand-by instructions to an actual mobilization command.
The roots of the allegations leveled against Haitians are unclear, yet somewhere in early August, local far-right extremists pushed a false narrative that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were consuming house pets, a lie soon picked up by Trump or Vance’s team. This matter took central political stage during Trump’s statement in last Tuesday’s debate. He made ominous and unfounded comments about situations in various American towns, with a particular emphasis on discrediting Springfield based on the accusations.
Post-debate, the Trump campaign strategically deployed Vance to add a deceptive ‘pro-worker’ gloss to their anti-immigrant stance. On a Friday, Vance penned a tweet suggesting that the crisis in Springfield epitomized why he supports Trump. His comments connected skyrocketing housing costs, rising disease rates, and mounting crime to the immigrant population. This xenophobic tirade has now been seen an astonishing 37 million times.
As a consequence of these heightened anti-immigrant sentiments, extreme right elements have started terrorizing the city of Springfield with violence and bomb threats. Their targets are particularly the Haitian workers and schoolchildren. Due to the severity of these threats, the city government had to close down many public facilities such as the City Hall and Department of Motor Vehicles. Bomb threats even resulted in hospital lockdowns and evacuations.
The two local colleges, Clark College and Wittenberg University, announced cancellations of classes and events owing to ongoing threats. Out of the 12,000-20,000 Haitian immigrants living lawfully in the region, several reported a fear to step outside. A high school student made a statement to the New York Times expressing the anxiety and stress felt by the city’s residents, expecting something significant to happen without knowing what.
Trump and Vance, however, have only amplified their inflammatory rhetoric against Haitians and other immigrants. On a Sunday edition of ‘Meet the Press’, Vance candidly confessed to fabricating the ‘pet-eating’ narrative to draw attention to the perceived suffering of American citizens. He deflected blame for rising housing, healthcare, and car insurance costs onto Haitians, accusing them of causing increased disease rates.
In a striking discussion on ‘Face the Nation’, Vance attempted to paint a picture of local services being overwhelmed due to immigrant influx, particularly highlighting language barrier issues in schools. The media was once again blamed for neglecting citizens’ concerns about immigration. He suggested that such negligence was prompting dangerous responses like bomb threats and seeking attention through such drastic measures.
These dangerous endorsements bolster the Trump and Republic party’s campaign to discredit immigrants with increasingly threatening language. During a rally in Las Vegas, Trump painted a picture of the country under siege by ‘invasions’ of immigrants, making unverified claims about ‘thousands and thousands’ of terrorists entering the country. False accusations were thrown around associating poor living conditions in certain cities with immigrant communities, testing the limits of political discourse.
As per reports from the Nevada Current, during the rally, the screens flanking the stage displayed distinct images associating immigrants with crime. These ranged from scenes of open border doors for sex traffickers to potential dangers faced by citizens due to open border immigration policy. One image even suggested Latino gangs would become apartment managers if their opponents managed to get reelected.
The Democratic Party’s almost complete silence on this fear-mongering campaign provides Trump with unlimited freedom to escalate further. Kamala Harris, who often presents herself as strong on immigration through her TV advertisements, has not issued any statement rejecting Trump’s spurious accusations against Haitians. During Tuesday’s debate, she bypassed direct confrontation with Trump’s false claims, focusing instead on her support for a Conservative-backed immigration crackdown.
A routine response came from Biden on a Friday, stating simply that such actions need to stop. However, in action, the Biden-Harris administration has facilitated Trump’s negative portrayal of Haitians through their own stringent immigration policies. Flights deporting Haitians were restarted by the administration in April despite Haiti suffering through a severe economic, social and political crisis.
In 2022, under Biden’s presidency, Border Patrol agents were dispatched, equipped with whips and mounted on horseback, to deter Haitian asylum seekers from crossing the southern border with Mexico. The Biden-Harris administration’s harsh measures to curb immigration from Haiti has led to hundreds of fatalities in recent years. In a tragic incident on July 17, 2024, a boat carrying Haitian hopefuls to the US caught fire near Cap Haitien, resulting in the death of 40 people.
This fear campaign against immigrants by Trump, with tacit support from the Democrats, arises from their apprehension of a unified working-class movement. Therefore, it remains essential for the workers in Ohio, and globally, to stand up for their fellow workers. This strategic necessity is vital to ensure international unity of the working class in their fight against capitalism and towards ending the nation-state system.