Walz Decries Demonizing Immigrants After Trump & Vance Spread Lies About Haitians in Springfield, OH

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman.

During Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Governor Tim Walz criticized Senator JD Vance and Donald Trump for demonizing Haitians living in the city of Springfield, Ohio. The city has been in the national spotlight since Donald Trump made these remarks in his debate with Kamala Harris.

DONALD TRUMP: In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.

AMY GOODMAN: JD Vance has made similar claims despite protests by local Republican officials who say the stories are not true. On Tuesday night, Governor Walz criticized Trump and Vance’s comments while answering a question from debate moderator Margaret Brennan of CBS.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor, what about our CBS News polling, which does show that a majority of Americans, more than 50%, support mass deportations?

GOV. TIM WALZ: Look, we fix this issue with a bill that is necessary. But the issue on this is, this is what happens when you don’t want to solve it. You demonize it. And we saw this, and Senator Vance — and it surprises me on this — talking about and saying, “I will create stories to bring attention to this.” That vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield. The Republican governor said, “It’s not true. Don’t do it.” There’s consequences for this. There’s consequences.

We could come together. Senator Lankford did it. We could come together and solve this, if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make it an issue. And the consequences in Springfield were the governor had to send state law enforcement to escort kindergarteners to school. I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this. But by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point. And when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings.

SEN. JD VANCE: Now, Governor Walz brought up the community of Springfield, and he’s very worried about the things that I’ve said in Springfield. Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed. You’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border. It is a disgrace, Tim. And I actually think — I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.

AMY GOODMAN: Very interestingly, further on in this debate, JD Vance complained about the fact-checking. Margaret Brennan of CBS said, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” she said. Vance spoke up to complain about the fact-check. He said, “Margaret, the rules were that you were not going to fact-check. And since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” he protested.

Well, we’re joined right now by Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, which recently used an Ohio state law to bring criminal charges against Trump and Vance over their false claims.

Guerline, welcome back to Democracy Now! As they were making these claims, we interviewed you when you came to New York. Now you’re in Washington, D.C. You’ve met with many public officials. Can you respond to what they said, and particularly this criminal complaint you’ve brought against Trump and Vance in Ohio for endangering the Haitian community?

GUERLINE JOZEF: Thank you so much, Amy.

And the reality is they continue to spread those lies, even after we have brought criminal charges against them. They must be held accountable. What they are doing, as we have seen over the past few weeks, is creating chaos, creating division and really making an environment of fear, not only in Springfield, Ohio, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, in Long Island, New York, in places in California. We cannot allow this to continue, Amy. We have lives at risk. Real people’s lives are at risk. And the Haitian community in Springfield and around the country along with our allies and the people of America are standing up to say, “Enough is enough.”

So, these criminal charges that we have brought against Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance is we need to hold them accountable, make sure that they understand that they are not above the law, and what they are doing is unacceptable as people who are seeking to be really leading this country forward. This cannot be the case.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you also talk about what’s happened, as early as a week ago, or less than a week ago, the continued deportations of Haitians back into Haiti, where now, according to the World Food Programme, something like one in two people, half the population, is suffering severe hunger, not to mention violence?

GUERLINE JOZEF: Thank you, Amy. And I want to make it clear that the Haitian Bridge Alliance is a nonpartisan organization. We have lawsuits filed against President Biden for what happened in Del Rio. And we continue to push back against deportation that President Biden and his administration continues today to Haiti, as you just mentioned, as we see that we continue to deal with extreme political turmoil in Haiti and the famine that is happening right now. And President Biden and his administration continues to deport Haitians, immigrants, to Haiti right now. So, we are calling on President Biden and his administration to stop the deportation, while we are also calling on Mr. Vance and Mr. Trump to be held accountable for the criminal acts that they continue to terrorize a community and the entire country, for that matter of fact.

AMY GOODMAN: Guerline Jozef, I want to thank you for being with us, co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance.