Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that he would soon travel to Springfield, a Midwestern city plagued by racist rumors, denied by authorities, against thousands of Haitian immigrants accused of eating domestic animals.
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The former conservative president, who will face Democrat Kamala Harris on November 5, delivered a particularly violent campaign speech for over an hour near New York against immigration, which he linked, without any proof, to “criminality” and “terrorism” in the United States.
“Springfield, Ohio, this nice little town, no crime, no problems. 32,000 illegal immigrants came into the town, almost the size of the population, in a matter of weeks. […] “I’ll be there in the next two weeks. I’m going to go to Springfield,” Trump announced, drawing laughter from his thousands of supporters when he added: “You may never see me again, but that’s OK.”
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This city of some 60,000 inhabitants, overwhelmingly white, has indeed seen its population increase in recent years. Fleeing the terrible crisis in their country, about 15,000 Haitians have settled there, attracted by the economic recovery encouraged by the municipality and the state of Ohio, in the hands of Republicans.
But Springfield has been plagued for the past 10 days by false information spread on social media and amplified by Donald Trump at campaign rallies, according to which Haitians are stealing cats, dogs and other pets or geese to eat them.
The allegations have sparked 33 bomb threats and temporary school closures, with police on edge and immigrants fearful, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said, distancing himself from the populist stalwart.
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Central theme of the acrimonious campaign between Mr. Trump and Mr.me Harris said immigration was a major focus of the Republican’s tough, rambling speech in Uniondale, on the Democratic-leaning Long Island peninsula east of New York City, where there are right-wing constituencies.
He attacked illegal immigrants, calling them “animals,” “terrorists” and “criminals” who endanger American society.
“We have a massive number of terrorists coming into our country,” Donald Trump said.
“They come from Africa. They come from the Middle East. They come from all over the world, from Asia, many come from Asia. […] We are simply destroying our social fabric. […] and we have to get rid of these people,” he insisted, again accusing his rival of having opened the borders to immigration.
