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Constitutional Lawyers Back Criminal Charges Against Trump-Vance in Ohio
"Trump and Vance's positions of authority do not immunize them from the consequences that would fall—and have fallen—upon anyone else."
Oct 18, 2024
Legal experts from an advocacy group and a civil rights law firm on Friday called for a county prosecutor to issue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance for their role in propagating lies about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.
Constitutional lawyers with Free Speech For People, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, a Chicago-based law firm, issued a joint letter to Clark County prosecutor Daniel Driscoll in support of a criminal complaint brought by Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), a San Diego-based rights group, on September 24.
The complaint alleges that Trump and Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees, disrupted public services, made false alarms, and engaged in telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing.
Last month, Trump and Vance repeatedly claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were stealing pets to eat them—the claims, which had no credible basis, were widely derided as racist.
The two Republicans' promulgation of the false rumors led to 33 bomb threats in Springfield, as well as other threats on individuals and elected officials, according to the HBA complaint; state troopers had to be deployed to the town, and some schools and public buildings were closed or evacuated.
Friday's joint letter argues that Trump and Vance repeated the dangerous claims after they knew them to be false and that their statements predictably caused security threats; it characterizes this as "severe criminal misconduct."
"Trump and Vance's continuous use of their national platform to spread dangerous falsehoods that foreseeably cause widespread civic disruption against already marginalized communities falls squarely within the criminal charges your office has been asked to evaluate," the letter says.
"Trump and Vance's positions of authority do not immunize them from the consequences that would fall—and have fallen—upon anyone else," the authors also wrote.
BREAKING: We just issued a joint letter w/ attorneys at @HSPRD in support of @HaitianBridge, urging the Clark County Ohio prosecutor to pursue criminal charges against Trump & Vance for dangerous, inflammatory, & repeated lies about the Haitian community. https://t.co/0M8JlB5IIh
— Free Speech For People (@FSFP) October 18, 2024
The criminal complaint, called an affidavit, was filed under a Ohio law that allows citizens to seek criminal charges. It asks that the prosecutor find probable cause to arrest Trump and Vance.
A panel of local judges referred the matter to Driscoll on October 4, but so far he's not taken public action or set a date for a hearing, which Subodh Chandra, the Ohio lawyer that filed the complaint for HBA, has said is a requirement before a complaint can be quashed. HBA is keen to have such a public airing of the facts, the Los Angeles Timesreported last month.
The letter from Free Speech For People and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym argues that free speech is not a valid defense for Trump and Vance in this case, as "the evidence overwhelmingly establishes" that their "speech was knowingly false."
"Trump and Vance made a calculated decision to repeat racist falsehoods... knowing their calls would activate their supporters and others into disruptive and violent action," the letter says.
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To Defend Haitian Migrants, Oppose the US Policies That Forced Them to Flee
Truly addressing the root causes of migration will require the United States to seriously reevaluate its own centuries-long role in stifling Haitian democracy and creating a crisis of forced displacement.
Oct 17, 2024
The racist lies against Haitian immigrants in the United States that have been dominating the news cycle are being delivered by Republicans, but they are built on bipartisan—and often racist—U.S. policies that drive Haitians from their home country to our borders.
While we are justifiably condemning the hateful and dangerous attacks against Haitians, we need to equally condemn U.S. government support for repressive and corrupt Haitian leaders, and insist on supporting Haitians’ efforts to reestablish a stable, prosperous homeland where they can live in peace and security.
Haitian migrants seeking refuge in the United States and elsewhere are fleeing a deep crisis generated by actors associated with the U.S.-backed Pati Ayisyen Tèt Kale (PHTK). PHTK founder President Michel Martelly came to power in 2011, after the Obama administration pressured Haiti’s electoral council to change the results of the 2010 preliminary elections. U.S. support continued for Martelly’s hand-picked successor, President Jovenel Moïse, who came to power through flawed elections, overstayed his constitutionally mandated presidential term, and tried to push forward self-serving, illegal constitutional reform. The Biden administration installed and then continued to prop up Moïse’s successor, de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who ruled for nearly three years without a constitutional or popular mandate. Martelly, Moïse, and Henry—all three of whom are affiliated with the PHTK—enjoyed consistent U.S. support despite being responsible for spectacular corruption, state-sanctioned massacres, and the dismantling of Haiti’s democratic structures and accountability mechanisms.
The Biden administration consistently preaches the importance of addressing root causes of migration, even as it continues to support corrupt and repressive Haitian actors that stifle democracy and drive Haitians to flee.
This persistent U.S. support has already undermined Haiti’s transition—which hopes to lead the country out of crisis and toward stability and democracy—by placing many of the same PHTK-affiliated actors responsible for Haiti’s crisis at its center. For example, through a process overseen by the State Department, PHTK-affiliated groups were granted 3 of the 7 voting seats on Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council. Although an early attempt by those members to co-opt the transitional process ultimately failed, it left Haitians even more skeptical that the crisis could be resolved by the same U.S.-backed actors who created it.
The pattern of U.S. support for corrupt and repressive actors in Haiti follows a history of persistent destabilization ever since Haiti won its independence from France in 1804. The United States was afraid then that a stable and prosperous free Black republic would undermine the white supremacy upon which the U.S. system of enslavement—and attendant political and economic power—rested, and would inspire other Black people to fight for their freedom. Consequently, the U.S. government took steps early on to undermine Haiti’s development. These included refusing to recognize Haiti’s sovereignty until 1864 and occupying the country for nearly 20 years, from 1915 to 1934. During that time, marines stole gold from Haiti’s national reserves, took control of its financial and political institutions, and reinstated a system of forced labor akin to enslavement.
Significant Haitian migration to the United States began in the 1960s in response to the horrors inflicted by the U.S.-backed Duvalier dictatorships. For nearly 30 years, the United States supported Francois “Papa Doc” and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier despite their well-documented disregard for human rights and democracy, because they were a reliable vote against Cuba at the United Nations and the Organization of American States. The U.S. government labeled Haitians fleeing the brutality of the Duvaliers’ secret police “economic migrants” and detained and removed them, even as it welcomed those fleeing communist Cuba and Vietnam as “political refugees.”
Emigration from Haiti spiked when Haitians fled the brutal U.S.-backed military regime that took power after the 1991 coup d’état—also allegedly supported by the CIA—that overthrew Haiti’s first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It spiked again in 2004 after a U.S.-backed coup ousted Aristide a second time. The U.S. government used the period of extreme violence that predictably followed the coup it had orchestrated to justify sending in a U.N. peacekeeping operation, MINUSTAH. The peacekeeping mission lasted 13 years, cost over $7 billion, and was responsible for countless violations of Haitian rights and dignity. Meanwhile, the United States installed a series of undemocratic U.S.-backed regimes, including the PHTK-affiliated regimes described above.
The Biden administration consistently preaches the importance of addressing root causes of migration, even as it continues to support corrupt and repressive Haitian actors that stifle democracy and drive Haitians to flee. A recent resolution put forth by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus calling for legislation that directly addresses U.S. policies contributing to forced migration—including the failure to stop the flow of weapons trafficking from the United States to Haiti—is an important step toward aligning U.S. practices with its rhetoric.
But truly addressing the root causes of migration will require the United States to seriously reevaluate its own centuries-long role in the crisis of forced displacement in Haiti. As long as we keep supporting the corrupt, repressive actors whose policies force Haitians to flee, they are going to keep arriving at our borders.
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The Ugly Anti-Black Racism at the Heart of Trump's Attacks on Haitian Immigrants
One of the key lessons of the events in Springfield is that this type of hatred doesn’t just hurt the intended target, but whole communities.
Sep 28, 2024
Bomb threats against city hall. Proud Boys marching. Schools emptied. The residents of Springfield, Ohio are learning firsthand what it means to be caught in the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s dangerous tirades against immigrants in this nation. Long after the headlines have moved onto Trump’s next target, this town will be left to pick up the pieces.
We say “next target” because the Republican presidential nominee’s comments against Haitian immigrants during the September 10 debate were not a one-off, but an inevitable result of the anti-Blackness deeply rooted in our nation’s immigration policies and narratives. Until leaders in both parties step up to reject this racism, we can expect the consequences to continue.
This pernicious history goes back hundreds of years. Although Haiti became an independent nation in 1804, the United States refused to officially recognize Haiti’s independence for nearly another six decades - because white politicians feared the revolution would spread to enslaved Black people in the U.S. But echoes of the past reverberate. In 2021, horrific images surfaced showing border patrol agents on horseback, whips in hand, using excessive force against Haitian families along the Rio Grande.
Trump himself has a long track record of discriminating against Black people in this country, including but not limited to Black immigrants. Decades ago, he systematically denied housing to Black tenants in New York. He called for the execution of five innocent young men of color known as the Central Park Five and has continued peddling birther conspiracies against President Obama. During his presidency, Trump called African and Haitian nations “shithole countries” and instituted Muslim and Africa bans, the effects of which are still felt today.
But racist immigration policies transcend political party. Last year, the Biden administration began requiring people fleeing danger to use the CBP One app to make their asylum appointments – among the app’s many glitches included facial recognition technology that failed to consistently recognize the faces of Black people. In June of this year, Biden placed a harsh and arbitrary limit on the number of people who can seek asylum, effectively slamming the door on people trying to access safety. These policy failures disproportionally harm Black immigrants, though their effects are widespread.
One of the key lessons of the events in Springfield is that anti-Blackness doesn’t just hurt the intended target, but whole communities. While those who called in bomb threats may have aimed to hurt Haitian immigrants, a far larger group of residents experienced the evacuations of schools, hospital lockdowns, and the cancelation of an annual festival. This is unsurprising: we have seen repeatedly that attempts to harm one group of people have far-reaching ripple effects. Whether we are immigrants or born here in the U.S., our lives are intertwined, and it is in our collective interest to confront this racism and make clear it has no place in the future of this nation.
Looking back at our nation’s history, we know American cities have a rich history of integrating immigrants even after a bumpy start, including Irish and Italian immigrants in 19th and 20th centuries in New York, Liberians in the 20th century in Philadelphia, and more recently Ukrainians fleeing war. Those arriving from Haiti and African countries must be welcomed too. The federal government must do its job and support welcoming efforts so places like Springfield can access resources for integrating new residents.
Springfield’s leaders have been clear that Haitian immigrants have revitalized the city, working and contributing to the community. Once newly arrived people get their bearings, they become friends, neighbors, and leaders who expand cultural life, grow the economy, pay taxes, and work essential jobs. In 2022 (the most recent data available), immigrants in Ohio paid $7.0 billion in taxes, including $2.4 billion in state and local taxes. What the city needs is support to help incorporate this new group of people, including translation services and hospital staffing. These are real but solvable logistical challenges that deserve practical solutions – not the racism, dehumanization, and lies from shameless opportunists like Donald Trump and JD Vance.
It is past time that we turn the page. We as a country must prioritize confronting anti-Blackness in our immigration system and reject the tired Birth of a Nation political playbook of stoking fear using immigrants of color as scapegoats. Our collective future depends on it.Keep ReadingShow Less
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