The father of an 11-year-old Ohio boy who died last year when a Haitian immigrant crashed into his school bus gave the harshest and most candid rebuttal yet to Donald Trump’s lies about immigration. After the Republican campaign posted a photo of his son Aiden on X and claimed he was “murdered on his way to school by a Haitian migrant who Kamala Harris let into the country,” Nathan Clark lashed out at Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, in an emotional speech in which he asked them to stop using his son’s death as a “political tool.” “They can spew all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even false claims that pets are being razed and eaten by members of the community. However, I do not and have never allowed them to mention Aiden,” the father said.
“The last thing we need is to have the worst day of our lives constantly and violently thrown in our faces,” Nathan Clark said during the public comment session at a Springfield, Ohio, City Commission meeting. “But even that isn’t enough for them. They go a step further and make it seem like our Aiden appreciates their hate, that we should reciprocate their hate. And look what they’ve done to us. We need to get up here and beg them to stop. Using Aiden as a political tool is reprehensible, to say the least,” he continued. “This has to stop now.”
Nathan Clark, accompanied by his wife, who was seen fighting back tears throughout the three-minute speech, made it clear that his son was not murdered but accidentally killed in a collision in August 2023 when a Haitian driver crossed the road in the wrong direction and collided with the bus he was riding in. Another 20 students were injured in the accident and the person responsible, Hermanio Joseph, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison.
The tragedy sparked an outpouring of anger against the thousands of immigrants from Haiti who have settled in the Springfield, Ohio, area in recent years. They are immigrants who are in the country legally and who came to the area mainly to fill manufacturing jobs.
In recent days, however, the Trump campaign and Vance have channeled the outrage of area residents into the national political discourse as part of their anti-immigrant rhetoric. A day after Trump War Room, the X account used by the Trump campaign, posted about Aiden’s alleged murder, Vance repeated the lie on his personal account: “A child was murdered by a Haitian immigrant who had no right to be here,” he wrote.
In the same post, the Republican vice presidential nominee continued to spread the hoax about Haitian immigrants kidnapping and eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield — a lie Trump repeated during Tuesday’s presidential debate, even though officials have insisted it is a false claim.
Speaking before the City Commission, where Springfield residents have turned to complain about the presence of Haitian immigrants in their community since Aiden’s death, Nathan Clark cited four politicians he described as “morally bankrupt” for using Aiden to advance their interests: Trump, Vance, Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. “They have used my son’s name and used his death for political gain,” he said, adding that he would only listen to them one more time “to hear their apologies.”
“Did you know that one of the worst feelings in the world is not being able to protect your child? Worse yet, we can’t even protect his memory when he’s gone. Please, stop the hate,” the father pleaded.
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