Leaders of a small Ohio city in which Donald Trump‘s campaign has amplified claims that migrants have been eating pets and conducting animal sacrifices say there’s no truth to the allegations.
In a statement to Newsweek Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Springfield, a city of 58,000 just outside Dayton, said there had been “no credible reports” pets or other animals had been harmed or abused by members of the growing immigrant community there.
The clarification came after rumors spread in recent days that migrants, specifically members of its large Haitian diaspora, had been killing and eating pets and other animals.
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“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,” the statement read.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (left), seen at the U.S. Open in New York City on Sept. 8, 2024, and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) (right), seen near the U.S.-Mexico border in California on Sept. 6, 2024, both joined in with rumors that Haitian immigrants had been eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Donald Trump supporters accused Vice President Kamala Harris of failed border policies following the rumors.
Sarah Stier/Justin Sullivan/MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
The story appeared to start with a post on a private Facebook page, in which a woman claimed Haitian residents had taken her friend’s cat, hung it from a tree and were carving it up to eat.
In August, a woman in Canton, about 200 miles away, was arrested after allegedly killing a cat and eating it in a residential area. But that woman, Allexis Telia Ferrell, 27, is an American citizen.
Despite the incident being reported at the time, rumors began to re-circulate online over the weekend and early Monday, pushed by conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, as well as Senators Ted Cruz and JD Vance, Trump’s running mate.
Rumors about ducks’ necks being broken also made their way into the conversation around Springfield, leading to viral AI-generated images of Trump saving the animals from harm.
Vance and others have used the rumors to further the Trump campaign’s attack line that the Biden administration’s border policies have failed.
Then on Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost ordered his office to “research legal avenues” to stop new migrant arrivals, saying they were putting a strain on resources.
“The problem is not migrants, it is way, way too many migrants in a short period of time,” Yost said in a press release. “The problem is a massive increase in the population without any communication or assistance from the federal government.”
Yost also claimed that migrants were causing car crashes, stealing livestock and killing wildlife for food, which the city also denied.
“Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes,” the spokesperson told Newsweek.
“Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”
A migrant was in fact involved in a high-profile fatal car accident last year, when the driver of a minivan swerved into a school bus on the first day of classes, killing a child and injuring two dozen others. The driver was a recently settled immigrant from Haiti who was driving with a foreign license, according to the New York Times.
The viral nature of the story in Springfield, where some 20,000 Haitians have resettled — legally — in recent years, once more showed the polarizing issue of immigration within the presidential election, which the Trump campaign has been stoking as the campaign enters the home stretch.
Local officials in Springfield have acknowledged that the recent Haitian arrivals have helped revitalize the city’s moribund economy, but have at the same time pleaded with the federal government for more resources to help resettle them.
