Trump and the hoax about immigrants eating pets

Synopsis

In the debate with Kamala Harris, Republican Donald Trump claimed that in Springfield, a working-class city in Ohio, “they eat dogs, immigrants eat cats, pets.” A hoax that has spread like wildfire on the Internet. It began a week ago, with an anonymous message on Facebook from someone who said that Haitian immigrants had eaten the cat of a friend of his daughter. It was shared by far-right accounts and on Monday it was given credence by Trump’s number 2, JD Vance. Now the party’s posters say: “Don’t eat pets, vote Republican” and immigrants fear for their lives, they say at a center that provides them with support.

In 2020, there were about 60,000 people living in Springfield. Since then, nearly 20,000 Haitians have arrived, fleeing one of the most violent countries in the world and with papers. They found work in factories, revitalized the city, but also put municipal services to the test.

Tensions boiled over in August 2023, when a Haitian driver crashed into a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy. After a year of hearing Republican politicians use his son’s name at rallies, his father lashed out on Tuesday: “I wish my son had been killed by a 60-year-old white man. The hatemongers would have left us alone.”

The city council clarified that there was no evidence of immigrants harming pets. Hours later, nothing prevented the former president who promised to build a wall from spreading the hoax to millions of viewers.