PHILADELPHIA — Vice President Harris called the “hateful rhetoric” around Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, “a crying shame” and said Tuesday that her “heart aches” over the threats of violence in the city.
“It’s a crying shame, literally, what’s happening to those families, those children in that community,” Harris said in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia.
She added that former President Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) are leaning into racist tropes after amplifying false claims that migrants were abducting and eating pets, despite the local police department repeatedly saying such claims had no merit.
“When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes from that,” Harris said. “It means that you have been invested with the trust to be responsible in the way you use your words, much less how you conduct yourself, and especially when you have been and then seek to be again president of the United States of America.”
On Sept. 9, Vance posted on social media that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets around the city. Then, during last week’s presidential debate, Trump repeated the claims while answering a question related to the border.
Though city officials have dismissed the claims, schools as well as City Hall have faced more than 30 bomb threats since Springfield has been thrust into the national spotlight.
After multiple school evacuations, authorities will now conduct daily sweeps of schools.
“You say you care about law enforcement — law enforcement resources are being put into this because of these serious threats that are being issued against a community that is living a productive, good life, before this happened. And spewing lies that are grounded in tropes that are age old,” Harris said.
“I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio, and it’s got to stop. And we’ve got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United States of America engaging in that hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country,” she added.
