For Immediate Release
September 17, 2024
Contact: press@socialists.nyc

Statement on Trump’s Scapegoating of Haitian Migrants

We need to be paying attention to Springfield, Ohio right now.

After JD Vance and Donald Trump spewed lies and anti-immigrant rhetoric against Haitian Americans, a hospital, universities, and the city itself shut down because of bomb threats. We know this playbook. Eric Adams used the same xenophobic lies in New York, saying that he had to defund our libraries, schools, and transit because of newly arrived immigrants. What Trump and Adams say about immigrants isn’t the truth—it’s a distraction. Immigrants are not the reason for austerity, their administrations are.

The truth is we are hurting. Our rent is too high, our cost of living is too high, it’s getting harder and harder to scrape by. And all Trump and Adams administrations want to do is reduce taxes on the rich, tear families apart, and keep us from fighting together for what we all need.

Don’t let them divide us. We have more in common with each other than we do with millionaires like Donald Trump and JD Vance. Anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric harm us all. We have to stand up and fight for each other — to stop costly and dehumanizing deportations, protect Temporary Protected Status that gives immigrants the right to work, and make our city welcoming and affordable to all.

Solidarity with our Haitian members, including Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest who has already called out this hateful and racist language for what it is. Solidarity with the Haitian and immigrant communities in Springfield, NYC, and across the country who are living in heightened fear. We are angry, and we’ll turn that anger into action. We will not leave you behind.

Sign up for updates from the Immigrant Justice Working Group and fight for a better world for all of us.

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ABOUT NYC-DSA: New York City Democratic Socialists is the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America—the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 85,000 members. NYC-DSA is run by its 6,000+ members and activists who are working together to build a democratic socialist organization in the five boroughs.