Ohio Sen. JD Vance (R) said Wednesday he would continue to falsely call Haitian migrants living legally in the United States “illegal aliens,” doubling down on his racist rhetoric once more after spreading lies about immigrants eating people’s pets.
Vance was asked about Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, and how he planned to remove the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living there. The city has seen a surge in immigration in recent years but was unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight after Vance and later former President Donald Trump bolstered lies about the city’s newcomers eating local cats and dogs.
The senator, who is Trump’s running mate, dialed up his attacks against the Haitian community on Thursday.
“The media loves to say that the Haitian migrants, hundreds of thousands of them by the way … they are here legally,” Vance said during a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. “And what they mean is Kamala Harris used two separate programs, mass parole and Temporary Protected Status, she used two programs to wave a wand and to say we’re not going to deport those people here.”
“Well if Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them an illegal alien,” he went on. “An illegal action from Kamala Harris does not make an alien legal, that is not how this works.”
His comments are misleading: An estimated 300,000 Haitians have been granted residence in the United States under a provision known as Temporary Protected Status, which allows foreign nationals of some countries facing disasters or political turmoil to live in the U.S. legally.
Haiti has been rocked by a series of disasters and political upheaval, and President Joe Biden identified the country as a pillar of his effort to expand pathways for legal entry into the U.S. last year.
The Biden administration in June extended TPS status for Haitians until Feb. 3, 2026, which could be renewed again at a later date.
The U.S. also allows foreign nationals to apply for humanitarian parole to enter the country under “urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons.”
City officials in Springfield, Ohio, have a dedicated webpage confirming that Haitians are living there legally under U.S. programs and noted that while city resources are strained, the city is an appealing destination for those looking for jobs and a lower cost of living.
The Wall Street Journal also published a new account from a city official in Springfield on Wednesday, who said Vance’s staffers called to ask about the rumors of migrants eating pets earlier this month.
“I told him no,” Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told the paper. “There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
Vance ran with them anyway.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue has called on political leaders to stop attacking the community, saying the rhetoric was hurting residents. The city has seen more than 30 bomb threats in recent days.
But Trump and Vance have both continued to attack immigrants on the campaign trail, part of their broadsides against Harris and the Biden administration’s policies along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. Trump has also vowed to enact the “largest-ever deportation” if he is reelected to the White House.