The father of an 11-year-old child who was killed when a Haitian driver hit his school bus in Springfield, Ohio, is begging President Trump, Senator Vance, and other politicians, to stop using his son’s accident as a “political tool” to incite hatred against Haitian migrants.



Nathan Clark, the father of the late Aiden Clark, delivered his speech during a City Commission meeting on Tuesday, specifically directing his message toward “morally bankrupt” Trump, Mr. Vance, Congressman Chip Roy, and Ohio Senate GOP nominee, Bernie Moreno. “They have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop. Now,” he said.



“I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say something so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone,” Mr. Clark said to the packed hall.



He continued: “The last thing that we need is to have the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces, but even that’s not good enough for them,” he added. “They take it one step further. They make it seem that our wonderful Aiden appreciates your hate, that we should follow their hate.”



Clark was killed in August of last year when a minivan, driven by a 36-year old Haitian migrant, swerved into oncoming traffic and struck a school bus carrying nearly two-dozen children. The bus rolled over and left several children injured. Clark was the only fatality.



The driver, Hermanio Joseph, was carrying an Ohio ID card and was living in Springfield on temporary protected status. Joseph was charged with involuntary manslaughter and fourth-degree felony vehicular homicide and sentenced to between nine and 13.5 years in prison.



With tensions already running high between the local and migrant communities, the accident was “the match on the tinder bundle,” said the Clark County health commissioner, Chris Cook.



While the small Ohio town has been grappling with the migrant crisis for several years, Springfield took hold of the press and social media this week after Republican politicians — including Trump, and his running mate — shared claims that Haitian migrants had been stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets. They used the allegations as evidence of the Biden-Harris administration’s unchecked immigration policy.



Even after local officials, including the city manager, assured that there had been no credible reports or evidence of such crimes, both Trump and Mr. Vance stuck by the allegations. During the presidential debate on Tuesday night, President Trump rebuked the city manager’s claim that no reports had been made, adding, “maybe that’s a good thing to say for a city manager.”



While defending his own comments about pet-eating allegations, Senator Vance brought up Clark’s death as evidence of “fellow citizens suffering under Kamala Harris’s policies.”



“Do you know what’s confirmed?” he wrote in a post on X. “That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.” The Trump campaign shared a post urging viewers to “remember” that “11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed on his way to school by a Haitian migrant that Kamala Harris let into the country in Springfield, Ohio.”



Mr. Clark, however, denounced the hatred that has been directed toward Haitian migrants in the name of his son. “This needs to stop now. They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members,” Mr. Clark said. “However, they are not allowed nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio. I will listen to them one more time to hear their apologies.”



“We have to get up here and beg them to stop,” he added. Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose.”



Local leaders have tried to direct attention away from the pet-eating rumors and instead focus on finding solutions to solve the “long-term challenges” of bringing more than 20,000 migrants to a town of 60,000 residents.



“After the election results come in and all the pundits are done using Springfield, Ohio, as a talking point, we are the ones who will continue to live with the long-term challenges of this population surge,” Clark County’s commissioner, Melanie Flax Wilt, said on Monday.



While the migrants — most of whom entered the country legally — have boosted the economy by taking up much needed jobs in warehouses, manufacturing, and the service industry, the migration flow has placed significant pressure on the small towns’ limited resources.



Locals have struggled with overcrowding in schools and medical systems and undermanned police and fire departments. Over the summer, the city manager, Bryan Heck, announced that the city was facing “a significant housing crisis,” as a result of the population surge, and he wrote a letter to Senators Scott and Brown requesting federal financial aid.



On Tuesday, the governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, a Republican, announced that he would be sending additional resources to Springeield, including highway patrol officers to help with local traffic issues that have risen due to Haitian migrants being unfamiliar with traffic laws and $2.5 million in funding to support health care infrastructure.

President Trump speaks during a presidential debate with  Vice President Harris.

Father of Boy Killed by Haitian Driver in Ohio Begs Trump, Vance To Stop Using Son’s Death as a ‘Political Tool’

‘They have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop,’ Nathan Clark, the father of Aiden Clark, tells a meeting of the Springfield, Ohio, City Commission.

Father of Boy Killed by Haitian Driver in Ohio Begs Trump, Vance To Stop Using Son’s Death as a ‘Political Tool’ | The New York Sun

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Father of Boy Killed by Haitian Driver in Ohio Begs Trump, Vance To Stop Using Son’s Death as a ‘Political Tool’

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