The Haitian Times reported that some families were keeping their children home from school, while others said they were subject to bullying, assaults and intimidation in front of their homes amid racist rhetoric on social media.
“We are not here to create harm in the community, we are here to work and send money back to our families,” said Mr Dorsainvil. “But we fear this could escalate to violence.”
Rose-Thamar Joseph, who works at the centre, pointed out that the community numbering a quarter of Springfield’s population had come to the city because of the cheap housing and the opportunity to work, often at a nearby Amazon distribution warehouse, an auto parts or metal work plant.
With many coming under work-authorised Temporary Protected Status and others under more opaque circumstances through Mexico, the last thing the community needed or deserved was to be the focus of national political attention.
“They’re in double-trouble here because they’re foreign and they’re black in a closed-minded section of the country that is expanding maybe too quickly,’ said Valerie Hinch, a retired community worker who was dining at the Rose Goute Haitian restaurant in Springfield’s southside.
“My New York friends are sending me messages, ‘Val, be careful of your cats.’ But it’s not funny, it’s sad and ignorant.”
Several Haitian men flatly denied that animals were being taken. “It’s bull—-,” said Joy, from Petionville in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, who declined to fully identify himself.
But tensions in Springfield are real, and with them come unwelcome displays. Last month, 12 people carrying swastika flags and rifles while wearing ski masks walked around the downtown area during the Springfield Jazz & Blues Fest.