The head of a nonprofit Haitian community group filed criminal charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, over false allegations that Haitian immigrants were eating local pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, filed the complaints on behalf of the group.
“Over the past two weeks, Trump and Vance have both waged a campaign to vilify and threaten the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio,” Jozef wrote. “Together, they have propagated and amplified the debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield eat cats, dogs, and wild animals.”
The group’s lawyer, Subodh Chandra, cited the inaction of a prosecutor in asserting Jozef’s right to file a complaint as a private citizen.
Ohio law allows individuals to file a sworn statement accusing someone of a crime. However, the law requires that a hearing be held before the sworn statement can be filed. As of Tuesday afternoon, no hearing had been scheduled.
Trump and Vance were charged with disrupting public services, false alarms, aiding and abetting, telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing in the case, which asked Clark County Municipal Court to find probable cause and issue warrants for Trump and Vance’s arrests.
“If anyone else had disrupted public service, set off false alarms, and engaged in telecommunications harassment the way Trump and Vance have done with their relentless and persistent lies — even after the governor and mayor said what they were saying was false — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said in a statement Tuesday. “They must be held accountable to the rule of law the same way any of us would be.”
Trump-Vance campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that Trump “rightly highlighted the failure of the immigration system under Kamala Harris, which has led to thousands of illegal immigrants flooding into communities like Springfield and many others across the country.”
City officials have repeatedly said the claim that Haitian immigrants arrived in Springfield illegally is not true.
During a presidential debate this month, Trump said Haitians in Springfield were “eating the pets of the people who live there.” He has continued to spread false claims about pets in Springfield on his social media site and at rallies.
Vance also echoed these false claims, writing in an X-rated article before the debate about reports allegedly showing “people having their pets taken and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” and later doubling down on those claims in interviews.
Springfield has responded to more than 33 bomb threats this month, leading to the temporary closure and evacuation of schools and municipal buildings. Mayor Rob Rue has also faced threats, according to Chandra.
Springfield authorities said the allegations were unfounded, with city police issuing a statement saying there were “no credible reports” of Haitian immigrants harming pets.
In an op-ed published Friday by The New York Times, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who has previously dismissed allegations that pets are eaten as “garbage,” also addressed the influx of Haitian immigrants over the past three years, disputing claims that they had settled in the city illegally.
“They are here legally. They are here to work,” the Republican governor wrote.
