The leader of a nonprofit representing the Haitian community invoked a private-citizen right to file charges Tuesday against former U.S. president Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield, Ohio, since Trump first spread false claims about legal immigrants there during a presidential debate.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance made the move after inaction by the local prosecutor, said their attorney, Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.
Charges brought by private citizens are rare, but not unheard of, in Ohio. Examples might be a grocery store charging a customer for a bounced check. State law requires a hearing to take place before the affidavit can move forward. As of Tuesday afternoon, none had been scheduled.
Trump and Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, are charged with disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity. The filing asks the Clark County Municipal Court to affirm that there is probable cause and issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance.
"Their persistence and relentlessness, even in the face of the governor and the mayor saying this is false, that shows intent," Chandra said. "It's knowing, wilful flouting of criminal law."
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign, said, "President Trump is rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that (Vice-President) Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country."
The 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past several years, in many cases after being recruited to local jobs, have been granted Temporary Protected Status to be in the U.S. legally.
More than 30 bomb threats were directed at state and local government buildings and schools, prompting closures, the assignment of additional law enforcement protection and security cameras. Some of the city's Haitian residents have also said they feared for their safety as public vitriol grew, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats.
"If it were anyone else other than Trump and Vance who had done what they've done -- wreak havoc on Springfield, resulting in bomb threats, evacuated and closed government buildings and schools, threats to the mayor and his family -- they would have been arrested by now," Chandra said. "They are not above the law."
Chandra said the U.S. Supreme Court's July ruling granting ex-presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution does not apply in this case because Trump is currently a private citizen and Vance was not acting in his capacity as a senator when he amplified the rumours that members of Springfield's 15,000-member Haitian community were eating people's pets.
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