A community group representing Haitian immigrants filed criminal charges against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance on Tuesday.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance alleges the GOP candidates led an effort to threaten and vilify the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, where the group filed its complaint.

What You Need To Know

  • A community group representing Haitian immigrants filed criminal charges against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance on Tuesday

  • The Haitian Bridge Alliance alleges the GOP candidates led an effort to threaten and vilify the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, where the group filed its complaint

  • Trump and Vance have spent much of the past month on the campaign trail claiming Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been stealing and eating pets — a claim that officials have said is untrue

  • The group is asking the court to issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance

The group filed the charges under an Ohio statute that allows private citizens to file criminal charges.

“HBA filed this criminal charge to hold Trump and Vance accountable for the devastating harm they caused our community in Springfield and has impacted Haitians around the United States,” HBA Executive Director Guerline Jozef said in a statement.

Trump and Vance have spent much of the past month on the campaign trail claiming Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been stealing and eating pets — a claim the city’s manager, the state's Republican governor and other officials have said is untrue. The claim even made its way to the debate stage earlier this month, with Trump's comments about Haitian immigrants during his face-off with Vice President Kamala Harris going viral in the days and weeks since.

The group is asking the court to issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance on a number of charges, including disrupting public services, making false alarms and aggravated menacing.

An advocacy group for fair and humane immigrant policies with a focus on Black migrants and the Haitian community, the Haitian Bridge Alliance is represented by Ohio-based civil rights attorney Subodh Chandra. Chandra represented the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by Ohio police officers in 2014. The City of Cleveland paid $6 million to settle the case.

Since the candidates began making the false claims, most notably during Trump’s debate earlier this month with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, schools in the city have received almost three dozen bomb threats. Hospitals, universities, schools and government offices in Springfield have had to be evacuated after being threatened.

“Trump and Vance’s lies have harmed the Springfield community, and their lies have violated criminal law,” Jozef said. “HBA is non-partisan. This is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric and hate speech that seems to be a constant in U.S. politics and that continues to cause suffering.”

Trump's campaign said in a statement that the Republican candidate is "highlighting the failed immigration system" under Harris and President Joe Biden, baselessly charging that "thousands of illegal immigrants" are "pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country."

But the estimated 15,000-20,000 immigrants from Haiti that have come to Springfield in recent years were granted Temporary Protected Status to allow them into the country legally. Many of them have been recruited to fill local jobs.