NEW YORK, United States — A Washington, DC-based non-partisan organisation has expressed support for Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and other parts of the United States, following attacks by Donald Trump and his the Republican presidential running mate JD Vance.

The Caribbean-American Political Action Committee (C-PAC) described the claims by Trump and Vance that Haitians in Springfield Ohio were “eating the pets of their neighbours” as an attack against the entire Caribbean immigrant community in the United States.

“These attacks are viewed as racist and are directly or indirectly aimed at people of colour and the people of the Global South,” C-PAC said in a just-issued press statement. “We unequivocally reject and condemn these patently xenophobic statements by Trump and Vance as these lies are abhorrent and immoral.”

It said the statements, which took full flight after being repeated by Trump in a debate with Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, were against the Christian values and tradition of the United States.

In the wake of the statements, Haitians were subject to threats on their lives, causing many to go into hiding. Schools and hospitals also received bomb threats.

C-PAC called for the rejection and condemnation of the egregious statements, urging the Republican Party, members of Congress from both sides and “all decent Americans to “join in condemning these unwarranted and grossly offensive statements by Trump and Vance”.

The claims by the Republican duo have repeatedly been denied by numerous Ohio officials, including Governor Mike De-Wine, Mayor of Springfield Rob Rue and City Manager Bryan Heck. Trump and Vance have since been sued by the Haitian Brigade Alliance, a non-profit organisation based in Springfield, Ohio.

In its defence of the Haitian community, C-PAC declared that it was reminding the offenders and their supporters that Haitians and other Caribbean immigrants have significantly contributed to the development of the US for more than 248 years.

The Caribbean-American Political Action Committee was established in 2005 and works to advance the political agenda of Caribbean Americans in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.

It said that to this end C-PAC will endorse and support candidates for public office area who articulate policy positions that will strengthen the economic, educational, social and cultural conditions of Caribbean individuals in the area.