COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio city remains in an unwelcome spotlight after former President Donald Trump amplified false rumors that members of its recently expanded Haitian immigrant population were abducting and eating pets, elevating in a televised presidential debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns.
Police and other government leaders in Springfield, Ohio, have said there are no credible or detailed reports that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community are doing that. But during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, and in subsequent campaign stops, Trump specifically mentioned it.
“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said.
Harris called Trump “extreme” and laughed after his comment.
While president, Trump questioned why the U.S. would accept people from “s—-hole” countries such as Haiti and some in Africa. His 2024 campaign has focused heavily on illegal immigration, often referencing in his speeches crimes committed by migrants. He argues immigrants are responsible for driving up crime and drug abuse in the United States and taking resources from American citizens.
Here’s a closer look at how the false claims have spread.
On Sept. 6, a post surfaced on X that shared what looked like a screengrab of a social media post apparently out of Springfield. The retweeted post talked about the person’s “neighbor’s daughter’s friend” seeing a cat hanging from a tree to be butchered and eaten, claiming without evidence that Haitians lived at the house. The accompanying photo showed a Black man carrying what appeared to be a Canada goose by its feet. USA Today reported the image was taken in Columbus, not Springfield.
On Monday, Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, posted on X. “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” he said.
The next day, Vance posted again on X about Springfield, saying his office had received inquires from residents who said “their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
Trump and other Republicans shared similarly themed posts, and a billboard campaign launched by the Republican Party of Arizona at 12 sites in metropolitan Phoenix played off the false rumors.
The office of the Springfield city manager, Bryan Heck, issued a statement knocking down the rumors.
“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Heck’s office said in an emailed statement.
Springfield police have said they had received no reports of stolen or eaten pets.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine sent state troopers to Springfield this week to help local law enforcement deal with increased traffic issues in the city. He is also earmarking $2.5 million over two years to provide more primary health care to immigrant families. The governor referred questions about pets to local officials.
An entirely unrelated incident that occurred last month in Canton, Ohio, was quickly and erroneously conflated into the discussion.
On Aug. 26, Canton police charged a 27-year-old woman with animal cruelty and disorderly conduct after she “did torture, kill, and eat a cat in a residential area in front (of) multiple people,” according to a police report. However, the woman is a U.S. citizen born in Ohio.
She is in jail awaiting a competency hearing.
A wildlife officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources looked into two reports about people of Haitian descent removing geese from a Springfield park, once in March and the second time in August, the department said Friday.
On both occasions, the officer found no evidence to back up the claims, a department spokesperson said.
Department records show that in March someone reported seeing three Haitian men grab a live duck and a goose and put them in a trash bag. The officer said the witness did not provide any information that could identify a suspect and said he monitored the area but found no evidence of a crime.
In August, a caller reported seeing four people of Haitian descent each carrying a goose before they left in a car, Springfield police records show. The wildlife officer to whom the case was referred initially was unable to reach the caller but later made contact and found nothing supporting the story.
Last month, one Springfield resident told the city commission that Haitians were grabbing ducks at a park, while another resident said immigrants had swiped farm animals and picked up roadkill. Neither made clear whether they had witnessed these things.
The posts create a false narrative and could be dangerous for Haitians in the United States, according to Guerline Jozef, founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a group that supports and advocates for immigrants of African descent
“We are always at the receiving end of all kind of barbaric, inhumane narratives and treatments, specifically when it comes to immigration,” Jozef said in a phone interview.
“There will be people that believe it, no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is,” said John Kirby, White House national security spokesman. “And they might act on that kind of information, and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So it needs to stop.”
Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000, has seen its Haitian population grow in recent years. It’s impossible to give an exact number, according to the city, but it estimates Springfield’s entire county has an overall immigrant population of 15,000.
The city also says that the Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows for them to remain in the country temporarily. Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence.
Another matter cropping up and raised by Trump in an email Monday is the August 2023 death of an 11-year-old boy after a vehicle driven by an immigrant from Haiti hit the boy’s school bus. After that, residents demanding answers about the immigrant community spoke out at city council meetings.