US presidential debate updates: Trump and Harris attend same 9/11 memorial after fierce debate

A man whose 11-year-old son was killed when a Haitian immigrant hit his school bus last year has said that Trump and Vance are “morally bankrupt” for using the boy’s death for political gain.

Both Vance and Trump have invoked Aiden Clark’s death in Springfield, Ohio, in recent weeks to attack immigrants and Harris’s record on the border.

“You look at Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said during the debate last night. “These are the people that she and Biden led into our country, and they’re destroying our country.”

There are up to 15,000 Haitian immigrants now living in Springfield, according to local government figures.

Speaking during public comment at a meeting of the Springfield City Commission just an hour before the debate, Aiden’s father, Nathan Clark, said he did not blame the Haitian community and condemned Vance and Trump for invoking his son’s name.

“Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose,” he said.

“My son was not murdered,” he added. “He was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti.”

The former president also repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were “eating people’s pets” – a claim Vance has promoted as well.

“This needs to stop now,” Clark said at the comment period. “They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members.

“However, they are not allowed – nor have they ever been allowed – to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio. I will listen to them (Trump and Vance) one more time to hear their apologies.”