By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-01 11:32:24 | Updated at 2024-10-01 13:30:23
2 hours ago
A Donald Trump supporter has received shocking death threats after praising Haitian employees for showing up on time.
Jamie McGregor, 48, CEO of McGreggor Metal Co. from Springfield, Ohio, is a lifelong Republican who voted twice for Trump.
But he has now had to purchase a gun for protection after receiving a flurry of death threats for speaking favorably about his Haitian employees after Trump infamously denounced the Haitians in Springfield with false claims that they were eating pets last month.
Posters branding him a traitor for hiring immigrants have also been plastered around his town as he told the NYT he is now having to take his family to shooting ranges in preparation for the worst.
'I have struggled with the fact that now we're going to have firearms in our house... and now we're taking classes, we're going to shooting ranges, we're being fitted for handguns,' he said.
Jamie McGregor, 48, CEO of McGreggor Metal Co and lifelong Republican, from Springfield, Ohio (pictured) has received death threats after publicly praising his Haitian employees
It comes after former president Donald Trump made comments during the September 10 presidential debate with Kamala Harris about Haitians stealing and eating pets in Springfield
McGreggor runs a company that produces parts for cars, trucks, and tractors and began hiring Haitians who had settled in Springfield and they now make up around 10 per cent of his labor force of 330.
But the dad and businessman has now been slammed after publicly praising his Haitian team members for their hard work and willingness to work.
Threats have been pouring in from all angles - and not just directed at McGreggor, but also his business and family.
'The owner of McGregor Metal can take a bullet to the skull and that would be 100 percent justified,' said one message left on the company voice mail.
Another asked why he was 'importing Third World savages who eat animas'.
'Stack all 20,000 Haitians inside Jamie McGregor's factory at once and force him to praise the benefits of foreign labor while being crushed to death by Black bodies themselves being crushed to death,' another said.
McGreggor added that his mother, 80, and children have also been receiving terrifying calls just because he had spoken out in an effort to show that Haitian workers had helped his company expand.
'They come to work every day. They don't cause drama. They're on time,' he told the newspaper.
On PBS News Hour, he noted that his Haitian employees were drug-free and wished he 'had 30 more'.
The CEO said he never dreamed that speaking up on behalf of his workers would put he and his family in danger, and revealed some of his American workers felt undermined by his comments
This sparked McGreggor to host emergency meetings at all three of his facilities so he could offer an apology to his offended staff and explanation behind his comments.
He told his employees he was 'deeply sorry' if he caused any offence and highlighted they were 'here to make metal parts... not to debate immigration'.
Due to the threat levels, the FBI turned up on the doorstep of McGreggor Metal on September 12, warning him he needed to take precautions abide by strict safety protocols.
Security experts gathered at the family home and advised them to switch up routes to and from school and work, scrub their digital footprints, use gloves and tongs while handling mail and keeping the blinds drawn in their house at all times.
Although the threats against his family have subsided in recent days, the worried dad said he is still struggling to completely relax back into normal life.
'You know, things are just different now,' Mr. McGregor said, noting that he would not vote for Mr. Trump again.
