Washington — Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, on Sunday defended amplifying debunked claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, while refusing to correct the record amid threats to the community in recent days.
“People are frustrated with the national media attention. Some people are also grateful that finally, someone is paying attention to what’s going on,” Vance, Ohio’s junior senator, said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “You’re never going to get this stuff perfect.”
Vance and former President Donald Trump, along with other allies, have amplified baseless rumors about immigrants in the Ohio city in recent days. On Sept. 9, Vance wrote in a post on X that people “have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” while putting the blame on the Biden-Harris administration. Then, Trump reiterated the claim during the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, before pledgeding to deport the legal Haitian immigrants to Venezuela days later.
Meanwhile, there have been bomb threats in recent days against schools and hospitals in the Springfield area, according to officials, sending hospitals into lockdowns and prompting multiple schools to evacuate.
Vance condemned the threats of violence on Sunday, making clear that the individuals who made the threats should be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” But he added that “we don’t believe in a heckler’s veto in this country.”
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“You can condemn violence, on the one hand, while also saying that there have been terrible problems caused by Kamala Harris’ open border in Springfield,” Vance said.
When asked about members of the Proud Boys marching through Springfield on Saturday, Vance said while he doesn’t align himself with the views of the far-right group, the development is being used as a distraction from the larger issues facing Springfield.
“I am much more concerned about the vice president of the United States failing to do her job than I am that a dozen people carried the wrong flag when they were marching in Springfield, Ohio, yesterday,” Vance added.
On the claims related to immigrants eating pets, Vance said he’s heard “about a dozen things” from constituents, 10 of which he said are verifiable.
Springfield’s police chief, mayor and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, have all made clear that there have been no credible reports of pets being stolen and eaten by immigrants. And while DeWine refuted the claim to CBS News last week, the governor acknowledged that there are challenges that come with 15,000 immigrants settling in a city with a population of just under 60,000 in the last couple of years — like health care systems being overloaded.
Vance pointed to the significant increase of immigrants moving to Springfield, arguing that the toll on the city’s health care and education systems has amounted to a “terrible tragedy.”
“We’re not mad at Haitian migrants for wanting to have a better life,” Vance said. “We’re angry at Kamala Harris for letting this happen to a small Ohio town. And thank God Donald Trump has called attention to it and would fight back against these policies if the American people reward him with the presidency.”
Vance has blamed Harris for implementing a program that brought the immigrants to Ohio. Under the temporary protected status program, thousands of immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict or environmental disasters have been provided deportation protections and work permits under multiple administrations.
Vance claimed inaccurately on Sunday that Trump extended the Temporary Protected Status for Haiti in 2017 before ending it in 2018. But the status, which was first created in 2010 and extended by the Obama administration multiple times, was also extended in 2020 after the Trump administration’s effort to bring an end to the status was struck down in court. It has since been extended by the Biden administration.
Vance also reiterated the baseless claims about immigrants eating pets on Saturday, responding on X to a video that alleged immigrants in Dayton, Ohio, were eating cats.
“Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed of themselves,” the Ohio Republican said. “Another ‘debunked’ story that turned out to have merit.”
Police in Dayton, Ohio, said Saturday that there is no evidence immigrants are eating pets, calling the claims “outlandish.”
Asked about the newest claim on Sunday, Vance said by sharing it, he was representing his Ohio constituents and their concerns.
“Everybody who has dealt with a large influx of migration knows that sometimes there are cultural practices that seem very far out there to a lot of Americans. Are we not allowed to talk about this in the United States of America?” Vance said. “I’m going to talk about what my constituents are sending me.”
