The father of Aiden Clark, an 11-year-old in Springfield, Ohio, whose death has been invoked by Republicans to attack immigrantscriticized former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance by name and told them to stop using his son for political purposes.

“I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man,” Nathan Clark said at a Springfield City Commission meeting on Tuesday. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone.”

Aiden Clark was killed in August 2023 when the driver of a minivan struck the school bus he was in. The driver, a Haitian immigrant, was sentenced to nine to 13 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

Aiden’s death prompted an outcry among some Springfield residents against the influx of Haitians in the city, a backlash that his father previously condemned.

Over the past three years, approximately 20,000 Haitian immigrants have arrived in Springfield. The population boom has helped revitalize the small townthough it also strained some public services. More recently, the community has caught the attention of prominent Republicans who point to Springfield as an example of the ills of illegal immigration, even though Haitian residents are there under the Temporary Federal Protection program. The Trump campaign has portrayed them as a threat to public safetyand the Republican nominee himself amplified racist claims about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets in the debate on Tuesday.

Nathan Clark on Tuesday criticized Republicans for using his son’s death “for political gain,” calling Vance, Trump, U.S. Senate candidate for Ohio Bernie Moreno and Texas Rep. Chip Roy “politically bankrupt.”

“I will listen to them one more time to hear their apologies,” Clark added. “To clear the air, my son, Aiden Clark, was not murdered. He was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti. This tragedy is felt all over this community, this state, and even the nation. But don’t spin this towards hate.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.