No, migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are not eating people’s pets, says the police department in the city.
The department clarified to debunk the claim that’s been spreading, after GOP nominee Donald Trump again repeated it during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
The myth is something that some conservatives have used to show just how bad the immigration policies pushed by the Biden administration have gotten. They then connect Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as directly responsible for it, since she was named the White House’s “immigration czar” by President Joe Biden early in his administration.
Even though the claim that local migrants were eating people’s pets was debunked before the debate took place, Trump still proclaimed it to be true. He said:
“Look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. … A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.
“And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
The rumor apparently began when a woman posted a message on a private page on Facebook. She claimed that some Haitian residents in Springfield took her friend’s cat, hung it from a tree and then started to carve it so they could eat it.
Conservative pundits jumped on that, including Charlie Kirk, who recirculated the rumor online. It was eventually picked up by Republican politicians, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Cruz shared a popular meme related to the rumor, which shows a picture of two young wide-eyed kittens, with the words, “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us,” posted on it.
Social media users took those and ran with them. They started making claims about Haitians eating ducks, and some created pictures using artificial intelligence that showed Trump saving some animals from being eaten.
Dave Yost, the Republican attorney general of the state, has claimed that migrants have stolen livestock, killed wildlife for food and caused many car crashes in the city. The city has denied all of that.
Springfield, a city located near Dayton that has 58,000 residents, has been dealing with the aftermath of all these rumors. A spokesperson for the city issued a statement on Monday to Newsweek, saying there have been “no credible reports” about any animals being harmed by the growing migrant community.
As the spokesperson added:
“Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”
In recent years, about 20,000 legal immigrants who are of Haitian descent have relocated to Springfield, which has caused some strife with local residents.
