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US President Donald Trump attacked Somali and Haitian immigrants during a rally in Ohio on Monday as he campaigned for Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump sought to boost the re-election campaign of Senator Jon Husted, who faces a challenge from former senator Sherrod Brown, while repeating allegations against immigrant communities and defending his administration’s restrictive immigration policies.
Trump has repeatedly targeted Minnesota’s Somali immigrant population. At the rally, he linked Somalis to Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, and revived his debunked claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets during a presidential debate in 2024.
“I was right,” Trump said, standing by the allegation and claiming that his administration’s policies were driving Haitians out of the country.
“If you want to stop Ohio from being plundered, ransacked and destroyed like Minnesota is being destroyed, we’re going to stop it,” he said. “Just like we did with Springfield, we’re going to stop it, we’re not going to let it happen.”
Trump also made disparaging remarks about Somali immigrants, claiming they had low intelligence and lacked basic clothing.
His comments came on the same day federal Homeland Security agents searched the Washington home of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born immigrant who represents a Minnesota district.
The administration has ended a programme that allowed more than 350,000 Haitians to remain legally in the United States. Springfield, a city with a population of around 60,000, has received approximately 15,000 Haitian immigrants in recent years.
“They’re getting their town back,” Trump said, referring to Springfield’s long-term residents.
The allegation that Haitian immigrants were eating pets was based on a second-hand Facebook post whose author later deleted it and apologised, saying she had no evidence to support the claim.
Trump’s immigration rhetoric has a longer history. In 2018, he reportedly used a vulgar expression to describe immigrants from countries including Haiti and questioned why the United States could not accept more migrants from countries such as Norway. The remarks drew accusations of racism, which Trump initially denied. He acknowledged using the phrase last year.
His administration has pursued tighter immigration restrictions and barred refugees from entering the country, with an exception for white South Africans, according to the report.
Trump’s visit to Youngstown came less than a week after he held a rally in Dayton. His repeated visits to Ohio, which he won by 11 percentage points, reflect the challenges facing Republicans in the midterm elections amid the war with Iran and persistent inflation.
Alongside the Senate contest, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is in a close gubernatorial race against Democrat Amy Acton.
Trump also announced during Monday’s rally that a new submarine-component manufacturing centre would be located in nearby Cleveland, underscoring his efforts to promote economic projects while campaigning for Republican allies.
He also singled out Representative Max Miller, a Republican congressman who continued his re-election campaign despite allegations of domestic abuse. Trump thanked Miller, who was sitting in the audience.
“Thank you, Max, for coming,” Trump said. “Thank you. Very good.”
The rally took place amid controversy over mailers sent to Ohio voters promoting independent Senate candidate Greg Levy over Brown, the Democratic nominee.
The mailers, sponsored by the Enough Promises Ohio political action committee, use slogans such as “Join the Revolution” and “Send a Worker to the Senate”. Levy describes himself on social media as a socialist running for the US Senate in 2026.
Levy condemned the mailers, accusing their sponsors of falsely presenting them as campaign material and engaging in what he called “dirty tricks” intended to mislead voters. He said he was considering legal action.
“This is a highly undemocratic practice and does a disservice to voters in Ohio and throughout the country,” he wrote on X.
Federal Election Commission filings show that Enough Promises Ohio was established on September 29. The committee has not yet been required to disclose its contributors, but other filings indicate links to firms associated with Republican political operations.
Enough Promises paid more than $397,000 to Seven Farms last week for printing, postage and mailing services supporting Levy or opposing Brown. Seven Farms, a recently established entity, lists the same South Carolina business suite as Whistlestop Strategies LLC.
Whistlestop is a direct-mail operation run by Big Dog Strategies LLC, a political strategy firm that advises Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC and managed Republican Bernie Moreno’s successful 2024 campaign against Brown.
Enough Promises Ohio and Big Dog Strategies did not respond to requests for comment.
Brown, a longtime senator, lost his seat to Moreno in 2024. Husted was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance in the Senate that year and is now seeking election in his own right.