My statement on the false attacks on Haitian migrants

Donald Trump and JD Vance are spreading lies about a group of people who live in a town in Ohio that’s just a little bit bigger than Moorhead. When I first heard them make their outlandish statements about eating pets and geese, like most everyone else, I laughed. But as they keep repeating these ridiculous, false stories, this is no longer a laughing matter. It’s dangerous, it’s wrong, and it must stop.

Let us start with some facts. Fact 1: according to the Springfield, Ohio city website, “​​Haitian immigrants are here legally, under the Immigration Parole Program.”

Fact 2: Their immigration status has no bearing on this situation. These stories are false and dangerous whether the migrants are documented or undocumented.

Fact 3: Someone did attack a cat. She was not a migrant but a lifelong resident of a different town in Ohio.

These stories are not harmless. They are dangerous. Time and again, we have seen attacks on immigrants in this country, from the 2019 El Paso shooter who said he was motivated by “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” to the young man who vandalized the masjid in Moorhead. We are fortunate that he used a can of spray paint rather than an assault rifle.

Like the majority of people who live in the United States, most of my ancestors came here from somewhere else. I love this country. Everything I have, I owe to their difficult decision to leave their homes and families to make a new life here. I am grateful every day that they made that choice.

I welcome New Americans to this country, and I count many of them among my friends. Just like those of us who were born here, they work hard, they pay their taxes, and they want to live in a place that is safe for themselves and their children.

We can do better than this. We can be better than this. We can criticize our immigration system without defaming immigrants.

I choose to treat my neighbor as I would be treated. How about you?

Sources: https://springfieldohio.gov/immigration-faqs/

https://www.nbcnews.com/.../-just-exploded-springfield...

https://www.texastribune.org/.../el-paso-walmart.../

Photo: My grandmother with her parents and sisters. Her father and maternal grandparents migrated to North Dakota from Lebanon.