Trump campaign falsely accuses immigrants of eating pets

Ohio. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and his allies are repeating false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio kidnap and eat pets, another example of the incendiary, anti-immigrant rhetoric Trump has promoted during his campaigns.

Despite officials saying there was no evidence Haitian migrants were doing such a thing, Trump’s team and vice presidential candidate Ohio Sen. JD Vance, along with other Republicans, repeated the allegations this week.

A press release issued Monday by the Trump campaign suggested that “Kamala’s immigrants are ravaging Ohio City.”

Several officials have said there are no credible reports to support the claims, even as Trump and his allies have seized on the rumors to spread racist stereotypes about nonwhite immigrants.

During his time as president, the tycoon questioned why the United States would accept people from what he described as “shithole countries,” such as Haiti and places in Africa. His 2024 campaign focuses heavily on illegal immigration, making references to crimes committed by immigrants.

Chronology of false rumors

On September 6, a retweeted post was posted on X claiming that the poster’s “neighbor’s daughter’s friend” had allegedly seen a cat hanging from a tree to be butchered and eaten, and claimed, without evidence, that Haitians lived in the house. The photo accompanying the post showed a black man holding what appeared to be a goose by its legs. The post continued to be shared on social media.

On Monday, Vance posted on X that “reports now show that people who should not be in this country have kidnapped and eaten their pets. Where is our border czar?”

The next day, Vance wrote again in X about Springfield, saying his office had received inquiries from residents who claimed “their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife had been taken by Haitian migrants. It is possible, of course, that all of these rumors turn out to be false.”

Other Republicans shared similar messages, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who posted a photo of kittens with a caption urging people to vote for Trump “so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”

Hours before Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Harris, the former president posted two photos related to the topic on his social media platform, Truth Social. One showed a photo of himself surrounded by cats and geese. Another showed armed cats wearing caps with Trump’s slogan: “Make America Great Again.”

Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck’s office issued a statement denying the rumors.

““In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we want to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific allegations of pets being harmed, injured or mistreated by members of the immigrant community,” Heck’s office said in an emailed statement.

Springfield police told the Springfield News-Sun on Monday that they had not received any reports of pets being stolen or eaten.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the massive influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield. He declined to address the rumors, leaving it up to local officials to answer questions about the issue. But DeWine repeatedly spoke out in support of people from Haiti, where his family has long run a charity.

American criminal “tortured and killed” a cat in Ohio

A completely unrelated incident last month in Canton, Ohio, was quickly and wrongly drawn into the debate.

On Aug. 26, Canton police charged a 27-year-old woman with animal cruelty and disorderly conduct after she “tortured, killed and ate a cat in a residential area in front of several people,” according to a police report.

But the woman charged, Allexis Ferrell, is not Haitian. She was born in Ohio and graduated from McKinley High School in Canton in 2015, according to public records and news reports. Court records show Ferrell has a criminal record dating back to at least 2017. Several attorneys who have represented Ferrell did not immediately respond to messages.

Ferrell is being held in the Stark County Jail awaiting a hearing next month, prosecutors said.

These posts create a false narrative and could be dangerous for Haitians in the United States, said 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 the target of all kinds of barbaric and inhumane narratives and treatments, specifically when it comes to migrants,” Jozef said in a telephone interview.

His comments echoed those of White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

““There are going to be people who believe it, no matter how ridiculous and stupid it is,” Kirby said. “And they might act on that kind of information, and act in ways that could cause someone to get hurt, so this needs to be stopped.”

The Haitian population in Springfield, Ohio, a city of about 60,000, has been growing in recent years. Although Springfield officials say it is impossible to provide an exact figure, they estimate the entire county has an immigrant population of 15,000.

The city also says Haitian migrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows them to stay temporarily. Last month, the Biden administration granted temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are deemed unsafe for them to return. The Haitian government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence.