Since the recent US presidential debate, Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have doubled down on claims that Haitian immigrants are causing crime and disorder in Springfield, Ohio.
These claims spread rapidly because of the bogus assertion that pets were being stolen and eaten. The claims fit a pattern of assertions by Republicans – particularly around election time – about immigrant-fuelled crime. Trump also repeated false claims that the town of Aurora in Colorado has been taken over by Venezuelan gangs. In 2016, Trump made similar claims about El Salvadoran gangs on Long Island.
Although false, these claims play upon the increased number of Haitians and others seeking asylum in the US in recent years. Haiti has faced extraordinary instability since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moïse. Gangs have taken control of large areas of Port-au-Prince, and increasingly of rural areas well beyond their usual turf.
