Haitian Advocates Urge to Hold Trump and Vance Accountable for False Claims – Dnyuz

Washington, D.C. – Amid a flood of falsehoods about Haitian migrants in the United States, rights attorney Guerline Jozef says she has received a flood of calls from community members.

They wanted to know what was being done to stem the tide of hateful rhetoric amplified by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies.

“What are we doing? How are we going to fight back to make sure they are protected?” Jozef, executive director of the advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance, recalled wondering about this.

This week, Jozef provided what she hopes will be a resounding answer: Her organization has filed criminal charges in Ohio against Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for spreading false rumors about Haitian migrants eating pets in the city of Springfield.

Jozef and her lawyers say the Republican politicians’ statements amount to crimes under Ohio state law — violations related to threats, intimidation and false alarms that have directly disrupted public services.

“These are some of the most powerful people, not just in the United States, but in the world,” she told Al Jazeera, pointing to Trump and Vance, as well as billionaire Elon Musk and several Republican lawmakers and right-wing figures who have done so . also spread the debunked stories.

The false claims have continued despite calls from state and local officials, such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who warned of their dangerous implications.

Since Trump referenced the claims during an election debate against Kamala Harris that was watched by more than 67 million people earlier this month, Springfield has seen dozens of bomb threats that forced evacuations and closures of public buildings, as well as the cancellation of a diversity festival.

“We need to let them know that they are not above the law,” Jozef added. “Pure and simple.”

‘Calculated to cause damage’

The Haitian Bridge Alliance’s efforts are based on an Ohio law that allows private citizens to bring criminal charges in the state.

While it is unclear whether this week’s filing will ultimately lead to prosecution, the law requires the Clark County Municipal Court to hold a hearing on the matter.

The court will then determine whether there are grounds to refer the case to a prosecutor for investigation or to immediately issue arrest warrants.

If charges were brought and the case against Trump and Vance were to proceed, it is almost certain that we would face thorny questions regarding the right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

That right does not extend to certain categories of statements, such as incitement and so-called ‘real threats’ or slander.

Yet the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that freedom of speech extends to lies in many cases, and the First Amendment in particular has been interpreted strongly in the context of political campaigns, explains Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University.

“There has always been a strong view on protecting freedom of expression regarding campaign statements,” Germain told Al Jazeera. “So I think it will be very, very difficult to convince the court to instruct prosecutors to file criminal charges.”

He added that the ability of private individuals or parties in Ohio to bring criminal charges in the U.S. is “relatively foreign,” making it difficult to predict how the case will proceed.

Still, Subodh Chandra, a former federal prosecutor representing Joseph and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, says Trump and Vance’s statements fall outside free speech protections because they represent a “relentless and persistent spread of lies designed to harm to cause”.

Repeated examples have shown that Trump and Vance knew the stories needed to be debunked, he said.

He pointed to real-time fact checks during the debate, direct contact and public calls from local officials, and even Vance’s own apparent acknowledgment that it was justified to “create stories” to draw more attention to an issue.

“Ohio case law interpreting the First Amendment in these statutes says that if the harm is reasonably foreseeable, the perpetrator is criminally liable,” Chandra told Al Jazeera.

“(Trump and Vance) know the power of their megaphone and platform, and that if they persistently and relentlessly spread these lies, their followers will act on them.”

As it stands, the Haitian Bridge Alliance has officially requested that Trump and Vance face six charges under Ohio law. Chandra, who has previously litigated First Amendment cases, said they will soon file a seventh charge for “causing panic.”

Chandra emphasized that he is not trying to fully prosecute the case against Trump and Vance just to convince the court that there is “probable cause” — or a reasonable basis — to believe crimes have been committed.

He said he believes it is clear that such a basis exists. “If anyone else had done what Trump and Vance did,” he said, “they would have been arrested by now.”

Elections loom large

The attacks on Haitians in Ohio come amid Trump’s broader efforts to hammer Democrats over their perceived vulnerability on immigration.

The US saw a huge increase in border crossings at its southern border with Mexico after Democratic President Joe Biden – who withdrew from the 2024 election race, paving the way for Harris to take the nomination – took office in 2021.

Trump and his allies have linked the real logistical tensions caused by the rapid growth of migrant populations in some parts of the US – as well as bizarre and inflammatory claims about these individuals – to the Biden administration’s border policies.

The demonization of foreigners and migrants in particular has long proven to be fertile political breeding ground in American elections. Democratic leaders, including Harris, have in turn lurched to the right on the issue amid Republican attacks.

“Republicans fear and lie about immigrants to distract from their own failure to deliver results for the American people,” Congressman Gregorio Casar, a member of the Progressive Caucus, said during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

He introduced a longshot bill to address U.S. policies and other root causes of migration in America.

When it comes to Haiti, for example, rights groups and experts have pointed out that the flow of U.S. weapons to gangs in the violence-wracked Caribbean country is one of the factors that continues to push Haitians to flee their homes.

“We can create a good immigration system in this country, and we can slow some of those big spikes in mass migration, by looking at ourselves first,” Casar said.

‘This is real’

Despite the backlash, hateful rhetoric against vulnerable Haitian communities in the US has continued.

This week, lawmakers in the House of Representatives pushed for a vote to censure Republican Congressman Clay Higgins over a racist cover-up on social media in which he described Haitians as “savage” and said they “eat pets.”

“The dirtiest country in the Western Hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters,” he wrote on social media before addressing the legal efforts against Trump and Vance in Ohio. Haitians “are now feeling very sophisticated and are filing charges against our president and vice president,” Higgins said.

Joseph drew a direct line between comments like Higgins’s and the barrage of verbal abuse that members of her group have faced in recent days.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called the n-word in the last few days,” she told Al Jazeera. “This is real. This is not a joke.”

Later at the news conference, Jozef, standing next to Casar, the congresswoman, struck a defiant tone as she said migrants of any nationality cannot be targeted with impunity.

“We will continue to push fearlessly, unhindered and refined,” she said. “And we will continue, and we will hold them, every one of them, accountable.”

The post in which Haitian advocates urge Trump to be held, Vance responsible for false claims, first appeared on Al Jazeera.