Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, attend a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community invoked private civil rights to file charges Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, alleging chaos and danger have been created in Springfield, Ohio, after Trump spread false claims about legal immigrants there during the first presidential debate.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance took action after what it called inaction by local prosecutors, said its attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.
Charges brought by private citizens are rare in Ohio, but not unheard of. For example, a grocery store charging a customer a fee for a bounced check. State law requires a hearing before the affidavit can be forwarded. As of Tuesday afternoon, no hearing had been scheduled.
Trump and Ohio US Senator Vance have been charged with obstruction of public services, false alarms, telecommunications harassment, serious threats and collusion. The filing requests the Clark County Municipal Court to confirm that there is probable cause and issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance.
“Their persistence and relentlessness, despite the governor and mayor telling them this is a lie, shows their intent,” Chandra said. “This is a deliberate violation of criminal law.”
“President Trump is rightly highlighting the failed immigration system, overseen by (Vice President) Kamala Harris, that has led to thousands of illegal immigrants flooding into Springfield and many other communities across the country,” said Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign.
The 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants who have come to Springfield over the past several years, in many cases after being hired for local jobs, have been granted Temporary Protected Status to remain legally in the U.S.
More than 30 bomb threats were made against state and local government buildings and schools, prompting their closure, additional law enforcement protection, and the installation of security cameras. Some Haitian residents of the city have also said they fear for their safety due to the growing public outrage, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats.
“If it was anyone other than Trump and Vance who had done all of these things — wreaked havoc in Springfield, made bomb threats, forced the evacuation and closure of government buildings and schools, threatened the mayor and his family — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said. “They are not above the law.”
Chandra said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July that granted former presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution did not apply in this case because Trump is currently a private citizen and Vance was not acting in his capacity as a senator when he promoted a rumor that members of Springfield’s 15,000-member Haitian community were eating people’s pets.