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And now to Springfield, Ohio, where Haitians have faced threats of violence after top Republicans spread lies accusing the immigrant community of eating pets. Some Haitians are leaning on their religious faith to get through this time and finding support from unlikely sources. Kathryn Mobley, from member station WYSO, reports.
KATHRYN MOBLEY, BYLINE: Pastor Reginald Silencieux believes it was God's plan that brought him to Springfield in 2021. On a sweltering afternoon, we meet outside of the First Evangelical Haitian Church of Springfield, Ohio, where he pastors.
How long have you been holding services here?
REGINALD SILENCIEUX: How long? Five months.
MOBLEY: The one-story brick building accommodates several hundred Haitian congregants. Through an interpreter, Silencieux says his parishioners are anxious.
SILENCIEUX: (Through interpreter) As Haitians, we are scared, like, to get out, because, like, we've been receiving a lot of threats, physically and verbally, in different forms. Like, the last time, even in the yard of the church, some people, they came physically, trying to threaten us and trying to say a lot of things. And we've been receiving, like, threats, like, through the phone.
MOBLEY: According to the pastor, comments by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his VP running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, are fueling hate talk. More than 30 bomb threats have flooded the city, its public school districts and area colleges. Now, each day, state troopers are sweeping every public school building prior to classes. There are mobile police towers and two bomb-sniffing dogs on duty throughout the city.
Our conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door.
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING ON DOOR)
MOBLEY: It's a tall, gray-haired man in a maroon T-shirt, jeans and weathered suspenders. Smiling, Eric Crow gives to Pastor Silencieux four gray plastic bags, each filled with Haitian Creole Bibles.
SILENCIEUX: Thank you. Thank you so much.
ERIC CROW: You're welcome. Now, I've got the ABCs of salvation, and they're in each one of them, so...
SILENCIEUX: Very good.
MOBLEY: Since 2019, Crow says his Bible study group has given out Bibles for other immigrant groups in the city. He now believes it's their mission to buy and deliver Haitian Creole Bibles.
E CROW: We need to love each other. We're all God's kids, and God wants us all to live together. He doesn't want hate. God gave his son for us all.
MOBLEY: I follow Crow back to his red pickup truck, where his wife Terri is waiting. He wipes built-up sweat from under his black-framed eye glasses.
E CROW: I'm actually a Trump person, and I'm a little upset with him bringing this up, even though the free America guy may be saying some things he shouldn't say.
MOBLEY: Terri is also a Trump supporter, but worries the hate speech is hurting her family.
TERRI CROW: It is tearing us apart. We have a grandson that's 11 that's being exposed to all of this, with lots of questions about why all this is happening, and it's hard to give him an answer. I told him yesterday, I said all we're going to do is just keep praying a whole lot for the city and for the people that are being affected by all this.
MOBLEY: During the past five years, an estimated 15,000 Haitian immigrants have settled in Springfield, increasing the city's population to around 75,000. The rapid growth is straining public services, including health care and education, and provoking frustrations over the lack of federal support.
The Catholic Conference of Ohio published a letter asking the public to treat Springfield's Haitian immigrants with respect and dignity. Bishop William Barber echoed this sentiment during a vigil outside of one of the city's churches.
WILLIAM BARBER: Any group that has created such a hostile environment is acting contrary to God, contrary to love, contrary to humanity and contrary to the constitution that says we are to ensure domestic tranquility and to establish justice. This attempt to use the attack on immigrants is an attempt to allow people to run for office and not deal with the real issue.
MOBLEY: Pastor Silencieux says he's staying in Springfield and reassures his congregation.
SILENCIEUX: (Through interpreter) It's not going to be permanent, and God's going to save them from this.
MOBLEY: For NPR News, I'm Kathryn Mobley in Springfield. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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