Trump vows to deport legal Haitian migrants from Ohio in middle of Jack Smith rant

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Donald Trump has vowed to deport Haitian migrants who are legally living and working in Springfield, Ohio, if he wins November’s election.

Trump made the extraordinary threat during a rant about special counsel Jack Smith, who yesterday filed a damning 165-page legal document outlining his case against the former president in the federal 2020 election interference case.

“You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country,” Trump told NewsNation in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday night.

When asked if he would revoke the Haitian migrants’ Temporary Protected Status, the former president said: “Absolutely. I’d revoke it, and I’d bring them back to their country.”

Trump was then pressed on what he would do if Haiti refused to receive the migrants.

“Well, they’re going to receive them. They’re going to receive them,” he maintained.

Haitian migrants are living and working in Springfield, Ohio, legally – but have been thrust into an unwelcome spotlight after Trump and his running mate JD Vance peddled baseless rumors that migrants were abducting and eating people’s pets.

Trump seized upon this lie in the presidential debate against Kamala Harris on September 10, where he memorably exclaimed: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Since Trump and Vance began spreading the claims about Haitians, the town has faced at least 33 public safety and bomb threats, prompting officials to close schools and government buildings.

An affidavit filed by a Haitian advocacy organization has called for the Republican candidates to be arrested over the matter. The complaint from the Haitian Bridge Alliance, filed last month in Clark County Municipal Court, accuses the pair of working together to “knowingly spread a false and dangerous narrative.”

In Wednesday’s interview, the Republican presidential nominee also launched into a furious tirade about Smith’s legal filing, which claims Trump intentionally lied to voters, election officials, and former Vice President Mike Pence as part of a criminal effort to stay in power.

Smith – who Trump branded “deranged” – alleges the former president’s actions culminated in his failure to stop the mob that laid siege to the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

“This was a weaponization of the government … and released 30 days before the election,” Trump ranted to NewsNation. “My poll numbers have gone up instead of down. It is pure election interference.”

His rant echoed the Truth Social post shared in the aftermath of the document’s unsealing.

“The release of this falsehood-ridden, Unconstitutional, J6 brief immediately following Tim Walz’s disastrous Debate performance, and 33 days before the Most Important Election in the History of our Country, is another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to undermine and Weaponize American Democracy, and INTERFERE IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,” he raged.