A fierce campaign unfurled in Miami-Dade in response to racist and baseless claims targeting Haitian immigrants in Ohio.
A billboard with the phrase “Haitians who respect themselves don’t vote for Trump” popped up along I-95 and northwest 72nd Street in Little Haiti. The ad is bright red with a caricature of former president Donald Trump and the words “Respect Haiti!” superimposed over his face.
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The ads are also plastered on bus stop shelters throughout the Little Haiti neighborhood.
The campaign comes weeks after Trump and his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance spread lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stealing neighbors’ pets and eating them. The comments sparked outrage among the Haitian community across the nation, including here in South Florida.
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“Donald Trump and JD Vance’s fear-mongering lies and attacks against Haitian immigrants, and all immigrants, are deeply racist and xenophobic, and should anger us all,” said Tessa Petit, who is the Executive Director of FLIC Votes and is also a Haitian immigrant.
The ads were commissioned by FLIC Votes, with the group spending $20,000 to launch the campaign.
“This hateful rhetoric puts a target on the back of all immigrants, but especially Black people across this country–immigrants or not. We won't stand for being the scapegoats of a campaign that cannot speak about substance, so it resorts to lies,” said Petit.
During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, as we wrote, Trump made the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the dogs … They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
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Sen. Vance also claimed on X that there had been reports of Haitians eating people’s pets in Springfield. In addition, Vance made an unfounded claim that immigrants were responsible for an 81% increase in murders in Springfield, as we’ve written.
Springfield Police have denied the claims in a statement.
"In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," the statement read
Springfield has experienced an influx of immigrants who legally entered the country and moved to the city over the past few years. The city estimates about 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants now live in Ohio’s Clark County, where Springfield is located. Of that group, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 are Haitian, according to the county’s health commissioner, CNN reported.
