None of that matters to the MAGAs.
There’s a large Haitian population in Springfield estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000. Most of them are there as part of a federal program that grants “temporary protected status” to immigrants from certain countries, including Haiti, that are facing violence and upheaval.
They are there legally.
While Trump himself has incorrectly called the Haitians living in Springfield “illegal,” during Junior’s speech Saturday in Kentucky he never once referred to them that way.
Whatever they call them, it shows the MAGAs aren’t just coming after undocumented immigrants. They’re coming after all immigrants.
It’s scary. It’s un-American.
During his speech, Junior incorrectly claimed immigrants aren’t being relocated to places where Democrats live — they are — and blamed immigrants for all kinds of problems.
“You notice that they don’t send the migrants to liberal areas, liberal cities,” Junior said. “They only send them to the red states. … Our schools, oversaturated, again, with kids that can’t speak English. That’s terrible but, again your kids should not have to suffer for that. They shouldn’t have to get a disastrous education, not be able to break out of the cycle of poverty.”
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Then he went on to attack the media — with a non sequitur — saying reporters would lie to support Harris because …
Well, I’ll let him say it.
“… they will tell you anything because they’re not the ones that are going to get a bunch of migrants dumped in their backyard eating their pets. They’re going to live behind their walls with armed guards, and they can do their virtue signaling while America goes to hell in a handbasket while good, hardworking Americans suffer, while you become second-class citizens in your own country. That’s a fact.”
The crowd at the Freedom Fest roared.
Thankfully, it was a much smaller crowd than the one that attended the event in 2022, the last time Deters held it. Several thousand people gathered for Saturday's rally.
“Look at the stats, look at what they get for free. Your taxes, they’re gonna raise them through the roof so that everyone else can come to this country, to pay for them. They may never learn the language they may be incredibly low IQ, they may come with no skills, it doesn’t matter …,” Junior said.
Again, he’s not limiting his attacks to undocumented immigrants.
When he was asked during a press gaggle over the weekend about the threats to Haitians that followed his comments, Donald Trump blamed the Haitians.
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“I don’t know what happened with the bomb threats,” Trump the elder said. “I know that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants and it’s a terrible thing that’s happened. Springfield was a beautiful town, and now they’re going through hell.”
It’s sickening.
We’re better than that.
Furthermore, Trump said he plans to deport immigrants in the country — starting with the Haitians who are in Springfield.
He’s leading the mob Junior was trying to incite in Kentucky.
Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com.
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