OHIO, United States (CMC) — A Haitian group in Springfield, Ohio has filed criminal charges against former United States (US) president Donald Trump and his Republican running mate JD Vance stemming from what the group describes as “baseless and malicious comments” made by both men about Haitian immigrants eating pets, such as dogs and cats.

The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) says it has filed the criminal charges in a municipal court in Springfield.

The HBA, a grassroots nonprofit community organisation that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal and social services, said that over the last few weeks, both Trump and Vance “led an effort to vilify and threaten the Haitian community in Springfield”.

“Together, they spread and amplified the debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating pets including cats, dogs and wildlife,” it said, adding that the criminal charge asks the court “to affirm probable cause that Trump and Vance committed multiple crimes and issue arrest warrants against Trump and Vance”.

HBA said it is represented by Ohio-based civil rights attorney Subodh Chandra, who successfully represented Tamir Rice’s family in a case against Ohio police for shooting and killing their son.

“HBA filed this criminal charge to hold Trump and Vance accountable for the devastating harm they caused our community in Springfield and has impacted Haitians around the United States,” said Guerline Jozef, HBA’s executive director.

Chandra said if anyone else had disrupted public service, made false alarms, and engaged in telecommunications harassment in the manner Trump and Vance did with their relentless and persistent lies, even after the governor and mayor said what they were saying was false, they would’ve been arrested by now.

“They must be held accountable to the rule of law in the same way any of the rest of us would be,” he added.

HBA said that within the last two weeks, 33 bomb threats have been alleged across Springfield, and that hospitals, schools, universities and government offices were all evacuated after receiving racially-charged threats.

The non-profit group said Springfield government officials and their families have also received threats.

“Trump and Vance’s lies have harmed the Springfield community, and their lies have violated criminal law.  HBA is non-partisan, this is not about one candidate or political party. This is about confronting white supremacy, anti-Black rhetoric and hate speech that seems to be a constant in US politics and that continues to cause suffering. No one is above the law.”

HBA’s staff attorney, Erik Crew, said that Trump’s and Vance’s statements are “the same old anti-Black playbook that we’ve seen for hundreds of years in Ohio being rolled out to divide and create hate, especially around election times”.

“I was born and raised in Cincinnati; my dad was born and raised in Cleveland; and our family was born and raised in Springfield, Ohio before that. White supremacist and anti-democratic movements have always used the claim that so-called Black savages are coming to destroy, especially when political power is up for grabs. This is no different.

“This time, they are saying it is Haitians, and this time it is being used to try to score political points around immigration as well,” Crew said.

The communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign, Steven Cheung, said that Trump is “rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country”.

In his first and only Presidential Debate last month, with his Democratic challenger, US Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican-born, retired economist Dr Donald Harris, Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people that live there”.

But Ohio Republic Governor Mike DeWine has rejected Trump’s claim as “garbage”.

In his Vice-Presidential Debate on Tuesday, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, Vance doubled-down on the false claims against Haitian immigrants.

“In Springfield, and communities across this country, you have schools that are overwhelmed, housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump also said that he would rescind and deport, if re-elected in the November 5 Presidential Elections, Haitians immigrants in Springfield, who have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to remain in the United States.

“You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country,” Trump said, adding “they are, in my opinion, it’s not legal”.

But HBA said it “remains committed to advocating for the dignity, rights and humanity of all immigrants”, adding that it stands “in solidarity with the Haitian community in Springfield and across the United States”.