Haitian group files criminal complaint against Trump, Vance after Ohio comments

Related video: Lawmakers condemn comments about Haitian migrants

(NewsNation) — An Ohio group filed a citizen criminal complaint Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, calling for their arrests in the wake of comments they made about Haitian migrants living in Springfield.

The complaint was filed by Guerline Jozef of The Chandra Law Firm in Cleveland, on behalf of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

“Their persistence and relentlessness, even in the face of the governor and the mayor saying this is false, that shows intent,” said Subodh Chandra, attorney for the Haitian group. “It's knowing, willful flouting of criminal law.”

The firm explained that filing such a complaint is protected under an Ohio statute. The law firm said that because the Clark County prosecuting attorney has not acted "to protect the community and hold Trump and Vance accountable for what they have instigated," Jozef is asking the court to find probable cause and issue arrest warrants for both Trump and Vance.

State law requires a hearing to take place before the affidavit can move forward. As of Tuesday afternoon, none had been scheduled.

The documents — filed in Clark County Municipal Court — include a number of criminal charges, including disrupting public services, making false alarms, complicity, telecommunications harassment and aggravating menacing.

More than 30 bomb threats were directed at state and local government buildings and schools, prompting closures, the assignment of additional law enforcement protection, and security cameras. Some of the city's Haitian residents have also said they feared for their safety as public vitriol grew, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats.

“If it were anyone else other than Trump and Vance who had done what they’ve done — wreak havoc on Springfield, resulting in bomb threats, evacuated and closed government buildings and schools, threats to the mayor and his family — they would have been arrested by now,” Chandra said. “So, really, the only question is whether the court and then the prosecutors would treat Trump and Vance the way anyone else would be treated. They are not above the law.”

Chandra said the U.S. Supreme Court's July ruling granting ex-presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution doesn't apply in this case because Trump is currently a private citizen and Vance did not amplify the rumors that members of Springfield's 15,000-member Haitian community were eating people's pets in his capacity as a senator.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.