大象传媒

Call it a mother鈥檚 intuition. After former President Donald Trump repeated a vicious smear about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, during his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, many parents in that community instinctively . They were right to be concerned. In the days following Trump remarking on national television that these immigrants are eating household pets鈥攁 debunked rumor that first spread on social media鈥攖he threats rolled in. 

The that started shortly after the debate and continued through the weekend forced evacuations and closures of government buildings, hospitals, a university, and schools in Springfield. Although Trump鈥檚 words have imperiled Haitian immigrants, he has not withdrawn his claim; he has doubled down on it. On Sept. 12, while campaigning, he suggested Haitians had ruined 鈥渂eautiful Springfield鈥� and were not in the city legally, although Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said . Trump also insinuated the immigrants are involved in sexual violence against 鈥測oung American girls,鈥� continuing his pattern of linking immigration to the  

The targeting of Haitians in the small-town Midwest has led to an outcry of support from the public, policymakers, and immigration advocates. The National Parents Union, a women-led organization made up of parent advocacy groups fighting for equity in education, criticized 鈥渢he reckless and irresponsible comments鈥� from Republican leaders and announced that it 鈥渟tand[s] with the families of Springfield鈥� in a statement on Sept. 13. 

But no one empathizes with Springfield鈥檚 Haitian community like Haitian Americans themselves. The 19th spoke with scholars and immigrant advocates, mostly women of Haitian heritage, about the repercussions of Trump鈥檚 words. They contend that his claim鈥攁nd the hate before and after it鈥攁re nothing new: Due to the unique ways race, religion, and resistance have intersected in Haiti鈥檚 history, immigrants from the Caribbean nation have experienced a specific brand of xenophobia in the United States, even as Black immigrants in this country lack visibility.

鈥淭his kind of narrative has been going on since at least the middle of the 19th century,鈥� said Danielle N. Boaz, professor of Africana Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 鈥淲e can connect all of this back to the thing that Haitians did that was unforgivable to people of European heritage, which is they had this … rebellion that started in the 1790s and culminated in what historians have sometimes called the only successful slave rebellion in history, where they were able to defeat not only the French but other foreign powers.鈥�

The 1804 creation of Saint-Domingue, later Haiti, left slaveholding societies terrified that the human beings they held in bondage would also rebel. For securing their freedom, Haitians were demonized, with the often used to make wild claims against them, Boaz said.

鈥淪o, over the years, the narrative just kind of increases about how Haiti is this barbaric place,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 run only by Black people.鈥� 

Trump reinforced the barbarism messaging by implying that Haitians are 鈥渟avage criminal aliens.鈥� 

Despite Springfield Police denying any 鈥渃redible reports or specific claims鈥� of Haitians abusing animals or committing other crimes, Trump鈥檚 allegations have reverberated nationally. Christopher Rufo, who has led the national push against in schools and is a trustee for the New College of Florida, where hundreds of books on gender and diversity were discarded last month, offered a $5,000 鈥渂ounty鈥� to anyone with evidence of . In Florida and New York鈥攖he states with the largest Haitian American communities鈥� condemned Trump鈥檚 remarks and of Ohio. 

The bomb and shooting threats targeting Haitians disproportionately place pressure on mothers, said Taisha Saintil, senior policy analyst for the UndocuBlack Network, which advocates for Black immigrants. Often children鈥檚 primary caregivers, women rearrange work schedules, stay home, or make childcare plans when schools close, losing household income in the process.

鈥淲omen are often the ones managing the day-to-day fears, picking up and dropping off children, and trying to shield them from the psychological trauma of these threats,鈥� Saintil said. 鈥淭his gender dynamic adds another layer to the stress, as women feel pressure to keep things normal for their families while silently shouldering the weight of their own fear and frustration.鈥�

Having immigrated to Florida from Haiti in 2006 at age 9, Saintil said that she feels for Springfield鈥檚 Haitian community. Before moving to diverse Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she briefly lived in a white community where she said her classmates taunted, spat on her, and called her a cat-eater. 

鈥淚 remember … the fear, waking up every single day knowing that I鈥檓 going to get bullied, nobody wanting to talk to me, sitting at the lunch table by myself,鈥� Saintil said. 鈥淲hen I compare it to what is happening now to the newly arrived kids, I think about just how … the bullying will mark them for the rest of their lives.鈥�

Lured by manufacturing jobs, an estimated 15,000 Haitian immigrants have settled in Springfield鈥攁 mostly white town of just under 60,000 people鈥�. Before then, Springfield experienced an economic downturn caused, in part, by population decline. Then, the immigrants arrived, .

Valerie Lacarte, a senior policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute鈥檚 U.S. Immigration Policy Program, said that immigrants typically settle in areas because they know they can find reliable employment or their ethnic community already lives there. Springfield wasn鈥檛 previously home to a Haitian community, but state officials reportedly advertised the city鈥檚 livability and jobs, news that attracted migrants.

鈥淵ou have employers who are hiring these people, so from the job-market perspective, that鈥檚 a good thing. You have a match,鈥� Lacarte said. 

But this mutually beneficial development did not prevent tensions, which worsened last year after a Haitian immigrant crashed into a school bus, killing one child, Aiden Clark, and hurting nearly 30 others. Still, Nathan Clark, Aiden鈥檚 father, spoke out at a city commission meeting last week to denounce . Anti-immigrant residents, meanwhile, have complained that Springfield lacks the infrastructure for population growth.

鈥淚t鈥檚 tempting to think the growth of immigrants, that鈥檚 what鈥檚 causing the problems,鈥� said Karthick Ramakrishnan, coauthor of Framing Immigrants: News Coverage, Public Opinion, and Policy and a University of California, Berkeley, researcher. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the politicization of immigrants, and especially in places that have significant Republican voting populations, the scapegoating of immigrants tends to be higher. This is an issue we鈥檝e seen time and again in the American heartland, places that are depopulating, places that are short of workers, that actually benefit from immigrant workers, but you have people … tapping into these national dynamics, when it comes to race and xenophobia, to win elected office.鈥�

Officials must 鈥渂e intentional about social cohesion鈥� to avoid conflict between the longtime residents and the Haitian transplants, said Lacarte, the daughter of Haitian immigrants. It鈥檚 important to make sure that both the U.S.-born and foreign-born community members get the attention and resources needed to grow together as a diverse community.

Longtime residents may misunderstand why people who look and sound different from them are moving in, Lacarte said. They witness the demographic shift, but they don鈥檛 realize these changes can be helpful. Then, bad actors deepen anxieties by spreading disinformation about immigrants. 

鈥淚mmigrants have been not only filling these jobs and helping grow the economy. They have their own demand for goods and services,鈥� Lacarte said. 鈥淭hey send their kids to school. They even, in some cases, create businesses … and that grows the economy.鈥�

During the presidential debate, Trump did not portray foreign-born workers as a positive but as a threat to Americans, accusing . This framing overlooks that immigrants fill jobs the native-born population doesn鈥檛 pursue, Lacarte said, and that more workers are needed as birth rates decline and the white population ages. It also belies the fact that Black immigrants exist. 

About , the Pew Research Center reported in 2022. Africans have driven Black immigrant growth; their population increased by 246% between 2000 and 2019. In 2005, The New York Times reported that than at any time since the . Today, Africans make up 42% of the Black foreign-born population, while Caribbean immigrants make up 46%. Of the latter, most come from two countries: Jamaica and Haiti. 

After in Del Rio, Texas, went viral in 2021, Saintil said she received multiple messages disclosing, 鈥淚 did not know there were Black immigrants. Where did they come from?鈥� She assumed, due to her profession, that people knew the United States had Black immigrants.

鈥淢ost of my work now has been to raise visibility of Haitian and Black immigrants,鈥� Saintil said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e the most detained, the most placed in solitary confinement. Our bail bonds are higher. So, the same things that are happening to African Americans in the criminal justice system are happening to Black immigrants in the detention center. Our asylum claims are the most denied because immigration judges don鈥檛 trust our pain.鈥�

Long before the debate, Trump disparaged Black immigrants. In 2017, he reportedly said that   The following year, he labeled Haiti, African nations, and El Salvador 鈥�.鈥� In Springfield, local Republicans have echoed Trump鈥檚 remarks. In addition to the pet-eating allegations, they鈥檝e accused immigrants of being in gangs, spreading disease, and practicing 鈥渧oodoo鈥� rituals, claims police have denied.

As Haiti became the yardstick for measuring whether Black people could participate in society equally, attacks on its character escalated. By the 1880s, stories spread about Haitians engaging in cannibalism and human sacrifice, especially of white children, Boaz said. Told repeatedly, these stories inform the rumors about Haitians in Springfield today, and they may jeopardize women.

鈥淗istorically, women in marginalized communities, whether immigrants, ethnic minorities, or refugees, have been specifically targeted for intimidation,鈥� Saintil said. 鈥淭his may be because some view them as 鈥榚asier鈥� to attack or harass than men. … In this context, when Haitian women are being targeted for threats, harassment, or even racial slurs in public spaces, the consequences are far-reaching. This not only creates an atmosphere of terror for women but can also ripple through the entire family.鈥�

Haitian American anthropologist Gina Athena Ulysse, a professor of humanities at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said that she鈥檚 tired of defending her personhood and identity. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Ulysse wrote a book called because she found the dehumanizing remarks about Haitians then disturbing. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e always having to refute as opposed to having an identity that is an affirmed one,鈥� Ulysse said. 鈥淭here is a profound disappointment that in 2024 that I am listening to someone who is running to be the president of the highest nation in the land say something this surreal, this absurd. But I鈥檓 also someone as a Black woman, as a social scientist, as someone who understands race and racial construction, [knows] what that is meant to do, and that is to paint Haitians as the ultimate 鈥榦thers,鈥� cannibalists, and otherwise, so that it can keep fueling this narrative that鈥檚 necessary to strip people of their humanity.鈥� 

Ulysse said that the broader immigrant community faces xenophobia, too. One study concluded that the level of today rivals , a period that restricted Chinese immigration. Chinese immigrants have also been accused of consuming dogs and cats, insults revived during the onset of COVID-19, which Trump called the 鈥淐hina virus.鈥� 

鈥淗e鈥檚 gone from talking about Mexican immigrants as predominantly being criminals and rapists to then talking about immigrants as vectors of disease and now using similar kinds of dehumanizing language to talk about … not just what they eat, but the kind of the social threat they supposedly pose to American society,鈥� Ramakrishnan said. 鈥淚 think the kinds of emotions it鈥檚 supposed to evoke are emotions of disgust, of othering and reduced empathy, and also support for drastic measures like rounding up and deporting people who are not deemed to be American.鈥�

If Harris becomes president, she would not only be the first woman in the Oval Office but also the first person of South Asian and Caribbean heritage. Might that change perceptions and policies related to Caribbean immigrants? 

鈥淣o matter how well-meaning one person may be, they鈥檙e part of a social structure and a system that makes decisions,鈥� Ulysse said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 not going to make decisions by herself, so what difference does it make that she鈥檚 from the Caribbean? She鈥檚 got advisors. She鈥檚 got to think about Congress. She鈥檚 got to think about the Senate. She鈥檚 got to think about geopolitics and history.鈥� 

When Trump took aim at Haitian immigrants during the debate, Harris laughed in apparent disbelief but did not rebuke him. Ulysse finds it disturbing that many people laughed at Trump鈥檚 claims because, as absurd as they are, they鈥檙e endangering Haitians. 

On Friday, President Joe Biden called the attacks on Haitians 鈥�simply wrong,鈥� noting that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is 鈥渁 proud Haitian American.鈥�

Along with being terrified and traumatized, Saintil said the Haitian children and parents impacted by the threats and smears likely feel betrayed. 

鈥淵ou鈥檙e getting it from a country that you thought you could be safe in,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e getting it in a country that you鈥檝e been hoping to be in because you thought your life would be better, but now you鈥檙e being treated worse than dirt. You鈥檙e being called a savage. … How do you go on from there?鈥�

This story was originally published by and is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license.