Trump repeats baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets

Former President Donald Trump at his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris repeated a debunked claim that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

"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," Trump said as he attacked Harris and President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

Karen Graves, a Springfield spokesperson, told PolitiFact there are "no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community." Springfield police told a local news outlet the agency knew of no such reports about pets. 

The claim has gone viral in recent days, spread in part by high-profile conservatives, including Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

X owner Elon Musk, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and conservative influencer Charlie Kirk shared claims similar to Trump’s on social media. 

Some of the social media claims mentioned immigrants killing ducks or geese, but Graves said there were no reports of that or other crimes that have recently been pinned on Haitian immigrants. 

Vance defended Trump’s claim in the spin room after the debate. He pointed reporters to a Sept. 10 article from conservative website The Federalist that included an Aug. 26 police report and audio recording from a caller to a communications center in Clark County, Ohio, where Springfield is. The caller reported a group of four Haitian people in Springfield, each carrying a goose. 

"Whether they were eating geese or dogs, is that really what we’re going to hang our hat on?" Vance said, The Washington Post reported. However, the city spokesperson said there were no reports to the city of ducks or geese being killed or other crimes that have recently been pinned on Haitian immigrants. 

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue at a Sept. 10 city commission meeting reiterated that there were no credible or specific claims about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets.

"Rumors like these are taking away from the real issues such as housing concerns, resources needed for our schools and our overwhelmed health care system," Rue said.

Many of the social media posts that shared the claims relied on an account from an unidentified person shared in a private Facebook group that said its author’s neighbor’s daughter’s friend came home from work to find her cat butchered and hanging in a tree at a Haitian immigrant’s home next door. 

Trump campaign spokespeople did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about Trump’s debate claim.

Vance, in a follow-up X post Sept. 10, said his "office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants."

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Vance appeared to acknowledge that some reports may not be accurate, writing, "It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false."

But he also said in another follow-up post: "Keep the cat memes flowing."

The influx of as many as 20,000 Haitian migrants in the community has sparked controversy, particularly in August 2023, after a Haitian immigrant without a valid Ohio driver’s license drove a minivan into a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy, The New York Times reported.

Since 2023, some Haitians have come to the U.S. through the Department of Homeland Security’s humanitarian parole program that lets people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and their immediate family members request to come to the United States legally. They can be paroled into the United States for up to two years. The Haitian immigrants using that program are in the U.S. legally, a Springfield city website notes.

The language about Haitian immigrants eating family pets is similar to unfounded claims some conservatives shared earlier this year warning about gangs of Haitian cannibals that may be coming to the U.S. Experts told PolitiFact such narratives painting Haiti as a barbarous country are not new, and are racist attempts to dehumanize Haitians.

Trump said that in Springfield, Ohio, Haitian immigrants are "eating the pets of the people that live there." He doubled down on the claim after being corrected by debate moderator David Muir, despite multiple news outlets debunking the claim a day earlier and against the backdrop of rebuttals from Springfield city officials.

The claim appears to stem from an unverified secondhand Facebook post. A city spokesperson and Springfield police said they have received no credible reports that pets are being abducted and eaten by the immigrants. Springfield’s mayor also said the claims are not credible at a Sept. 10 city commission meeting.

We rate the claim Pants on Fire!