“We will be doing mass deportations in Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said. (File)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday pledged to carry out mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city of Springfield, even though most of them are in the United States legally.
The city has found itself at the centre of a social media maelstrom for days after right-wing agitators latched on to false claims that Haitian newcomers were eating household pets.
“We're going to do massive deportations in Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said at a news conference at his golf course near Los Angeles.
Most of the 15,000 Haitians in Springfield are there legally. Trump’s long-standing promise to carry out mass deportations generally refers to those in the country illegally.
Trump did not repeat the claim he made during Tuesday's presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that immigrants were eating dogs and cats, comments that have been widely mocked.
Two elementary schools were evacuated and a high school in Springfield was placed on lockdown Friday after anonymous bomb threats were made against the community for a second day in a row, according to ABC News.
At the White House, President Joe Biden called for an end to attacks against the Haitian community.
“It's just wrong. There's no place for this in America. This has to stop, what he's doing. It has to stop,” Biden said.
In June, the Biden administration extended Temporary Protected Status to hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States, a decades-old program that protects legal immigrants from deportation and grants them work permits. Gang wars in Haiti have displaced more than half a million people, and nearly five million face severe food insecurity.
Trump has cited the tensions in Springfield as another example of the need for hardline immigration policies. The arrival of Haitians has boosted the economy but has also strained social services.
“I'm furious about the illegal Haitian immigrants taking over Springfield, Ohio. You see that mess, don't you?” Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas later Friday.
“I am angry about young American women who are being raped and murdered by savage criminal aliens who enter our country very easily, but very illegally,” he added later in his speech.
Haitian community leaders across the United States said the Republican candidate's comments could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in Springfield.
“We need help, not hate,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told ABC News.
City officials say they have received no credible reports of anyone eating domestic animals. Karen Graves, a city spokeswoman, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes against Haitian residents, but that some had been victims of “crimes of opportunity,” such as property theft.
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