Rudy Giuliani, a former Trump surrogate and attorney, made a series of disparaging remarks about Haitian immigrants, resurfacing a series of debunked claims about community members living in Springfield, Ohio.
Speaking on the Flyover Conservatives podcast, Giuliani said that Haitian immigrants "live back 200 years" and "should not have been taken out of the jungle." He also suggested residents of Springfield abduct domestic animals, echoing the controversial claim made by vice presidential candidate JD Vance and echoed by former president Donald Trump.
"It's not their fault. They live back 200 years ago. They just shouldn't have been taken out of the jungle and placed in the middle of small town America. That's ridiculous. Or big town America, for that matter. These people are insane," Giuliani said.
Trump campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani says immigrants “shouldn't have been taken out of the jungle” pic.twitter.com/DY4vo4Vakm
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"I know the Haitian community backwards and forwards. I spent time in Haiti negotiating when I worked for Ronald Reagan, something similar to "stay in Mexico." And I know them because I wanted to be a Catholic priest and a missionary in Haiti. They practiced voodoo. And when they practiced voodoo, they killed domestic animals. I mean, half of them do. That's just it. And they're not taking people in and saying, "Mr. Haitian, are you one of those who kills animals or not? Do you practice voodoo?" They have no idea. So, animals are getting hurt somewhere. You've got a lot of these people here," he added in another passage of the tirade.
The false notion got national attention after Donald Trump mentioned it during the presidential debate against Kamala Harris. He then escalated the rhetoric suggesting this month that he would revoke the immigration status Haitian migrants legally living in Ohio if reelected.
In a recent interview with NewsNation in Houston, Texas, Trump specifically targeted the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which currently allows thousands of Haitian migrants to live legally in the U.S.
"In my opinion, it's not legal. It's not legal for anybody to do," Trump said, referring to the TPS program. He went on to say he would revoke the status of Haitian immigrants to "bring them back to their country."
TPS is a federal program that grants temporary legal status to migrants from countries facing unsafe conditions, such as natural disasters or conflicts. Haitians have been part of this program since January 2010, following a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed approximately 220,000 people. The program allows them to legally live and work in the U.S., with participants required to re-register each year with the Department of Homeland Security. In June, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended TPS for Haitian migrants until February 2026.
JD Vance later admitted the claims about Haitian migrants were false, but said he was willing to "create stories" to get media attention.
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