The assault on Haitian immigrants in the United States "has to stop," President Joe Biden said on Friday after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump repeated a false claim about a Haitian community in Ohio.
At a White House event celebrating Black excellence, Biden referred to his White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, as a proud Haitian American.
"A community that's under attack in our country right now. It's simply wrong. There's no place in America. This has to stop - what he's doing. It has to stop," Biden said.
Trump repeated false statements about immigrants eating household pets in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, during his debate on Tuesday night with his Democratic rival, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
Haitian community leaders across the United States said the Republican candidate's remarks could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also strained the social safety net.
Trump's comments that "they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats" during the debate were the latest in a long list of lies about immigrants that have defined his political career. It followed a similar false claim spread by his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on social media about Springfield's new residents.
City officials say they have received no credible reports of anybody eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of "crimes of opportunity," such as property theft.
Trump continued his attacks on Haitian migrants in Springfield on Friday but did not revisit the pet comments.
"In Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal Haitian migrants have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life, they've destroyed so people don't like to talk about it," he said in Los Angeles.
