As Trump demonizes immigrants, two targeted communities fear what’s next

Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, and Venezuelans in Aurora, Colo., are in the harsh spotlight of the former president’s false claims and threats of deportation.

The Haitian eatery cooks were preparing for Thursday’s lunch rush when the phone rang.

“Got any cats or dogs?” a mocking voice asked.

Romane Pierre, the 41-year-old manager of Rose Goute Creole, didn’t want to alarm his staff. They were already nervous. During the presidential debate barely 36 hours earlier, Republican nominee Donald Trump had targeted Haitians in Springfield, falsely accusing them of “eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Pierre summoned his customer-service politeness.

“No,” he replied, “but we have chicken and pork.”

A crackpot call was a minor disruption compared with that morning’s bomb threat on city hall, conveyed in a message the mayor described as “hateful” toward immigrants. By Friday, two elementary schools in this southwestern Ohio city had gone into lockdown and evacuated their students. Pierre’s team, who usually kept the restaurant open late, decided to close before dark.

“Everyone’s scared,” he said, keeping an eye on the glass entrance.

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