An Ohio sheriff has asked residents to make a list of homes displaying campaign posters supporting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz after comments on social media sparked unrest.
Portage County’s Republican sheriff, Bruce D. Zukowski, posted comments on his personal and work Facebook pages Friday warning that there would be an influx of illegal immigrants if Harris were to win the election, beating her party’s nominee, Donald Trump.
“If you ask me what would happen if the flip-flopping laughing hyena won,” Zukowski wrote, referring to Harris, “I would say … write down the addresses of all the people who have her signs in their yards!”
Zukowski called the migrants “illegal immigrant ‘locusts'” and added, “We should already have the addresses of the new families who helped them get there!”
In the same post, Zukowski included screenshots of several Fox News articles claiming that the Biden administration’s immigration policies are fueling a “crime wave” and “destroying small towns.”
At least two commenters said they planned to collect addresses of neighbors who publicly support Democratic candidates, according to the county’s local newspaper, Portager.
Zukowski has since limited his comments on the post and did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment.
The Fox News report included photos from Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, two small cities that have attracted national attention after President Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, spread false claims about immigration.
Zukowski’s comments have sparked widespread backlash, including from Republican lawmakers.
Portage County Commissioner Tony Badalamenti publicly denounced the posts in a Facebook video and resigned from the county Republican Central Committee, The Portage News reported.
“This is not a leadership position I want to be a part of,” Badalamenti said.
Badalamenti added that Zukowski’s actions “are making people scared. They’re being called bullying by the sheriff’s office, which is the highest law enforcement agency in Portage County.”
Others condemned Zukowski’s comments as an act of voter intimidation, especially considering the sheriff’s high position in law enforcement.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said it had received several complaints from voters in Portage County about Zukowski’s posts, Ohio-based WOSU Public Media reported.
“We had people reach out to us over the weekend who felt threatened and said they weren’t going to say they were going to change their behavior, but they were considering not having signs in their yard,” Collin Mallozzi, deputy policy director for the Ohio chapter of the ACLU, told WOSU.
Zukowski is running for re-election on November 5, the same day as the presidential election. His Democratic opponent, John Barbour, said Zukowski’s comments could affect public trust in police.
“People shouldn’t be here in fear that when they call the police, ‘Are they going to check my voting record? Are they going to check to see if I’m holding up a sign that supports people or things that I don’t like? And are they going to just walk past me instead of helping me?'” Barber told WOSU.