Brooks Ballenger and Josna Rege: Support the Haitian Bridge Alliance as it fights a racist disinformation campaign

J.D. Vance and Donald Trump have been traveling the United States attacking Haitian American immigrants with disinformation and racist fantasies. According to the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance, a grassroots immigrant advocacy group that has filed charges against the two, their disinformation amounts to hate speech. The lies have led to harassment, bomb threats, death threats and school closures, not just for their Haitian targets, but for all the people of Springfield, Ohio and other areas of the country with Haitian residents.

Neither Trump nor Vance has mentioned that most Haitians are in the U.S. legally, are employed, and pay taxes. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has dismissed the duo’s racist claims about pet-eating as “garbage,” challenged claims that Haitian have settled in Springfield unlawfully. “They are there legally. They are there to work,” he wrote.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance has filed a criminal complaint in Springfield, Ohio against Vance and Trump for endangering people who are legally residing in this country. It charges the presidential candidate and his running mate with disrupting public services, raising false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing, and complicity.

The filing asks the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm that there is probable cause and to issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance. You can support the work of the Haitian Bridge Alliance at haitianbridgealliance.org/.

Brooks Ballenger and Josna Rege

Amherst