The city of Springfield, Ohio, sued a neo-Nazi group known as the Blood Tribe on Thursday, accusing its members of harassing residents who defended the city’s Haitian immigrant population last year against false claims and racial slurs.
The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton, claims the Blood Tribe launched an expansive campaign that used emails, social media and physical intimidation to silence elected officials and private citizens who spoke out on behalf of the Haitians.
The turmoil in Springfield eventually spilled into the contentious U.S. presidential race, culminating with then-candidate Donald Trump asserting without evidence during a nationally televised debate that Haitians were “eating the pets” of their neighbors.
Springfield’s lawsuit blames the Blood Tribe and its leaders for fueling fear and anger that for months disrupted life in the community and beyond. It seeks unspecified damages for ethnic intimidation, menacing, inciting violence, telecommunications harassment and conspiracy to violate civil rights.
“The Blood Tribe and its members and associates unleashed a torrent of hateful conduct,” the lawsuit states.
While most speech is protected by the First Amendment, Springfield’s lawsuit argues members of the Blood Tribe repeatedly crossed the line from protected speech to intimidation that was so extreme it violated the civil rights of their targets.
"The City of Springfield will not stand...
it made false statements on customs forms to avoid paying tariffs on some imports from China, rejecting the company's argument that the Tariff Act leaves no room to invoke the False Claims Act. . ....