FL Haitian Elected Officials Respond To Vance’s ‘Racist Lies’

Screenshot. Photo by JD Vance, Facebook

While Donald Trump made a statement in the presidential debate on September 10, 2024, about immigrants eating American citizens’ pets, J.D. Vance actually said it first, specifically going after Haitian immigrants in Ohio. Now, Florida’s Haitian elected officials are clapping back.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on September 9, 2024, Vance stated, “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?”.

In a statement on the same day, September 9, 2024, Florida’s Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick refuted J.D. Vance’s “vile, racist lie” regarding Haitians in Springfield. She believes that comments like Vance’s are “baseless, hateful rhetoric” and “beneath the dignity of any public office, let alone the Senate or Vice Presidency”. According to her, “Vance would be better suited to continue writing his fictional tales and testing out his sofa”, as he “has no place in the Senate, let alone the White House”.

Then the next day, September 10, Florida’s Representative Dotie Joseph published a post on her official Instagram account to say that the “Ohio conman’s lies have been debunked by each and every legitimate media outlet”. Joseph expressed, “As a lawyer, he knows how to research, and should absolutely be disciplined for his racist and xenophobic claims, which he certainly knew and should have known to be fraudulent--even if he doesn't ‘practice’ law”.

Also on September 10, Congressman Maxwell Frost spoke out on his official Instagram. Frost asserted that Vance’s and other Republican leader’s “racially motivated attacks against Haitian people are disgusting, bigoted, and based on flat-out lies. That top Republican leaders…would bolster these lies online and attempt to frighten the American public to gain votes…is disgusting”.

Then, on September 11, Florida’s Representative Marie Woodson made a statement on her Instagram account about Trump and Vance’s “outrageous and unacceptable” remarks. Woodson encourages the American public to “reject the hatred, division, racism, and lies” and “focus on electing a credible, qualified, humane President & Vice President for the United States”.

On September 15, 2024, Vance defended his comments in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, saying that there are 911 reports from Springfield with people alleging that “migrants were capturing geese from the local park pond and eating them”. Bash did confirm that local police had found two reports of these allegations within the past 11 months but had no supporting evidence. 

In addition, during the interview, Vance claimed that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are there illegally. However, the City of Springfield website itself states that the “Haitian immigrants are here legally, under the Immigration Parole Program”, a program which Vance expressed disapproval of.

Furthermore, Vance said, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people then that is what I am going to do”. When Bash questioned what Vance meant, he tried to rephrase his claim, “I say that we are creating a story, meaning we are creating the American media focusing on it”.

Article by Ema Tibbetts