Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, on Friday criticized former US president Donald Trump and his election working mate, JD Vance, for repeating racist rightwing claims about Haitian immigrants consuming different residents’ pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio.
The conspiracy theories have triggered uproar and led to an onslaught of threats and harassment.
In a visitor essay published in the New York Times on Friday, DeWine mentioned it's “disappointing” that Springfield “has become the epicenter of vitriol over America’s immigration policy”, particularly calling out Trump and Vance for amplifying disinformation.
“As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield,” DeWine wrote. “This rhetoric hurts the city and its people, and it hurts those who have spent their lives there.”
DeWine mentioned Trump and Vance have been elevating vital points in regards to the “Biden administration’s failure to control the southern border”.
But the governor, who mentioned he was born in Springfield, added: “But their verbal attacks against these Haitians – who are legally present in the United States – dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument about the border.”
DeWine’s feedback have acquired combined reactions from high Ohio Democrats.
Some have supported DeWine’s essay amid vitriol geared toward Haitian immigrants in Springfield. Allison Russo, Ohio state consultant and minority whip, celebrated DeWine’s essay in a submit to X.
“I applaud [DeWine] for this fair and very thoughtful op-ed about [Springfield, Ohio] and the Haitian immigrants who are working hard to build a future there,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Ohio state senate chief Nickie Antonio advised the Guardian that she agreed with DeWine’s essay, however was “disappointed” that DeWine remains to be supporting Trump and Vance in the 2024 presidential election.
“What the governor left out with his entire [essay], which I think was beautiful, is that Trump and JD Vance started this whole thing to begin with and they continue it,” Antonio mentioned.
“They are continuing to beat the drum, encouraging violence, hatred, discrimination of people who are legally in our country, in our state and in that community”.
Antonio added that DeWine is a “fine and decent person” who has carried out constructive issues for Ohio, however added: “I don’t know how any reasonable person at this moment could put their partisan affiliation in front of decency and some kind of sense of the common good, because there’s none of that with these kinds of statements.”
Trump mentioned on Wednesday that he plans to go to Springfield “in the next two weeks”.
Both DeWine and the mayor of Springfield, Rob Rue, additionally a Republican, spoke out towards such a go to over safety issues.
“A visit from the former president will undoubtedly place additional demands on our safety infrastructure,” mentioned Rue during a Thursday press convention. “Should he choose to change his plans, it would convey a significant message of peace to the city of Springfield.”
DeWine had beforehand questioned dehumanizing rumors focusing on Haitian immigrants in Springfield.
In an interview with CBS News final week, DeWine mentioned that the rumor started on the web, which “can be quite crazy sometimes”.
DeWine added: “Mayor [Rob] Rue of Springfield says, ‘No, there’s no truth in that.’ They have no evidence of that at all. So, I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city.”
Meanwhile, colleges in Springfield acquired greater than 30 bomb threats after the inflammatory rumors turned nationwide information, regardless of there being no proof to help them, and Trump introduced up the subject in the presidential debate towards his Democratic rival for the White House, Kamala Harris.
DeWine has since deployed Ohio state freeway patrol to supply safety.
“Bomb threats – all hoaxes – continue and temporarily closed at least two schools, put the hospital on lockdown and shuttered City Hall,” he wrote.
