Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged to conduct mass deportations
of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio on Friday,
even though the majority of them are in the United
States. Legally, I can say this, we
will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. The
city has been at the center of a social media
maelstrom after right wing agitators latched on to false claims
that Haitian arrivals were eating household pets. The majority
of the 15,000 Haitians in Springfield are there legally,
Trump's long standing pledge to conduct mass deportations usually refers
to those in the country illegally. He did not
repeat the assertions he made during Tuesday's presidential debate with
Democrat Kamala Harris that immigrants were eating dogs and cats
. Those remarks have been widely mocked President Joe Biden
at the White House on Friday addressed the issue directly
, community that's under attack in our country right now
. Simply wrong. There's no place in America.
This has to stop what he's doing. It has
to stop Haitian community leaders across the US have said
Trump's remarks could put lives at risk and further inflame
tensions in Springfield. Thousands of recent Haitian arrivals there
have boosted the local economy but also strained the social
safety net. City officials say they have received no
credible reports of anybody eating household animals.