Washington DC – Amid the onslaught of lies spread about Haitian immigrants in the United States, rights advocate Guerline Joseph says she has been flooded with appeals from community members.
They wanted to know what was being done to stop the hate rhetoric being escalated by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies.
“What are we doing? How do we fight to make sure they are safe?” Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance advocacy group, recalls asking himself that question.
This week, Joseph gave what he hopes will be a resounding answer: His organization filed a lawsuit against Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, for spreading false rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets in the city of Springfield. Criminal charges filed.
Joseph and his attorneys say the Republican politicians’ statements constitute crimes under Ohio state law — violations related to threats, harassment and making false alarms that have directly disrupted public services.
“These are some of the most powerful people not only in the United States, but in the world,” he told Al Jazeera, pointing to Trump and Vance as well as billionaire Elon Musk and several Republican lawmakers and right-wing figures. Also spread misleading stories.
False claims have persisted despite warnings from state and local officials, such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, of the dangerous effects.
Since Trump referenced the claims earlier this month during an election debate against Kamala Harris, which was watched by more than 67 million people, Springfield has seen dozens of bomb threats, leading to evacuations and Public buildings had to be closed, as well as a diversity festival had to be cancelled.
“We have to tell them they are not above the law,” Joseph said. “Pure and simple.”
‘Calculated to cause harm’
The Haitian Bridge Alliance’s effort relies on an Ohio law that allows private citizens to file criminal charges in the state.
While it’s unclear whether this week’s filing will ultimately lead to prosecution, Clark County Municipal Court is required by law to hear the issue.
The court will then determine whether there are grounds to refer the case to the prosecuting attorney for investigation or directly issue an arrest warrant.
If charges are filed and the case against Trump and Vance moves forward, they are almost certain to face thorny questions related to the right to free speech, which is enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
This right does not extend to certain categories of speech, such as incitement and so-called “true threats” or defamation.
Nevertheless, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that free speech extends to lies in many cases, and the First Amendment has been interpreted particularly strongly in the context of political campaigns, said Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University. Explained.
“There has always been a strong First Amendment free speech protection approach to campaign statements,” Germain told Al Jazeera. “So I think it will be very difficult to persuade the court that they should direct prosecutors to file criminal charges.”
He said the ability of private individuals or parties to request criminal charges in Ohio is “relatively unusual” in the US, making it difficult to predict how the case will proceed.
Nevertheless, Subodh Chandra, a former federal prosecutor representing Joseph and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, says that Trump and Vance’s statements fall outside free speech protections because they represent “the sustained and persistent spread of lies designed to cause harm.” Are.
Repeated examples, he said, showed that Trump and Vance knew those stories had to be debunked.
They pointed to real-time fact-checking, direct contacts and public appeals to local officials during the debate, and even Vance’s own candid admission that “making up stories” to draw more attention to a topic was appropriate. Was.
“Ohio case law interpreting the First Amendment in these statutes says that if the harm could be reasonably anticipated, the perpetrator is criminally liable,” Chandra told Al Jazeera.
,[Trump and Vance] Know the power of their megaphone and platform, and that if they consistently and consistently spread these lies, their followers will act on it.
As things stand, the Haitian Bridge Alliance has officially requested that Trump and Vance face six charges under Ohio law. Chandra, who has previously prosecuted First Amendment cases, said he would soon plead a seventh charge of “inducing terror.”
Chandra stressed that he is not trying to fully prosecute the case against Trump and Vance, just to convince the court there is “probable cause” — or reasonable grounds — to believe that crimes have been committed. .
He said that in his view it is clear that such a basis exists. “If anyone else had done what Trump and Vance did, they would have been arrested by now,” he said.
Elections are just around the corner
The attacks on Haitians in Ohio come amid a broader effort by Trump to cast aspersions on Democrats’ perceived weakness on immigration.
The US saw a huge increase in crossings at its southern border with Mexico after Democratic President Joe Biden – who dropped out of the 2024 election race, paving the way for Harris to seek the nomination – took office in 2021.
Trump and his allies have linked the Biden administration’s border policies to the real logistical strain caused by the rapid growth of the migrant population in some parts of the US, as well as outrageous and inflammatory claims about those individuals.
Denigrating foreigners and immigrants in particular has proven fertile political ground in US elections. Democratic leaders, including Harris, have leaned to the right on the issue amid Republican attacks.
“Republicans fear people and lie about immigrants to distract from their failures to the American people,” Congressman Gregorio Cassar, a member of the Progressive Caucus, said during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
He introduced a long-term bill to address US policies and other root causes of migration to the US.
For example, when it comes to Haiti, rights groups and experts have pointed to the flow of American guns to gangs in the violence-stricken Caribbean country as a factor that continues to drive Haitians to flee their homes.
“We can build a good immigration system in this country, and we can slow down some of the biggest increases in mass migration by looking after ourselves first,” Kaiser said.
‘This is the truth’
Despite the protests, hateful rhetoric about vulnerable Haitian communities continues in the US.
This week, lawmakers in the House of Representatives pushed for a vote to censure Republican Congressman Clay Higgins for a racist social media controversy in which he described Haitians as “savages” and said they were “eating pets.”
“The dirtiest country, cult, slapstick gangsters in the Western Hemisphere,” he wrote on social media before taking aim at the legal effort against Trump and Vance in Ohio. “Haitians are now feeling very sophisticated in filing charges against our president and vice president,” Higgins said.
Jozef drew a direct line between the comments made by Higgins and the verbal abuse he has faced in recent days from members of his group.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called the N-word in the last few days,” she told Al Jazeera. “It’s the truth. It’s no joke.”
Speaking later at a press conference with Congressman Kaiser, Joseph struck a defiant tone, saying that immigrants of any nationality cannot be targeted with impunity.
“We will continue to move forward without fear, without recklessness, with sophistication,” he said. “And we will move forward, and we will hold every single one of them accountable.”
