By Alexandra Ulmer and Costas Pitas
Oct 16 (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday again defended false claims that migrants in Ohio were eating pets, telling Latino voters at a town hall rally that he was “just saying something about what was reported.”
Trump has in recent weeks amplified a false claim that has gone viral that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing residents’ pets or taking wild animals from parks to eat. There have been no credible reports confirming that Haitians are eating pets, and Ohio officials – including top Republican officials – have repeatedly said the story is false.
At an event organized by the Spanish-language television network Univision, an undecided Latino Republican voter of Mexican origin who lives in Arizona, a battleground state, asked Trump in Spanish if he really believed that immigrants ate pets. “I was just saying something that was reported… And they also ate other things that they weren’t supposed to. All I do is report,” Trump responded during the event in Miami. “I was there, I’m going to be there and we’re going to take a look.”
Trump added that some “newspapers” had also reported the claim, without naming any or providing details.
Trump, who has not yet traveled to Springfield, has previously said he would carry out mass deportations of Haitian migrants from the Ohio city, even though most of them are in the United States legally.
The city has faced bomb threats since Trump began repeating these false accusations about Haitians.
In the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election, Trump is increasingly turning to darker and more violent language on irregular immigration, an issue that opinion polls show resonates with many voters, especially Republicans. Trump is competing with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for key votes from the growing Latino population. Latino voters have typically supported Democrats, but Trump’s campaign hopes to win over more of them, especially men, over economic discontent. Harris led Trump by eight percentage points – 47% to 39% – among Latino voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between September 11 and October 7. Harris held her own rally with members of the Latino community last week in Nevada, a battleground state with a significant Latino population.
Trump avoids questions
At the event, Trump dodged other questions, including those related to immigration. One participant, a California farm worker of Mexican origin who said he had been picking strawberries and broccoli for years, asked who would do the hard farm work if Trump goes ahead with his plans to deport millions of migrants who They live in the United States, and how that would affect food prices.
Trump did not respond directly and instead claimed that African Americans and Latino Americans were losing their jobs because of “illegal” immigration. He also repeated unfounded claims that Latin American countries were emptying psychiatric institutions and prisons to send people to the United States.
Trump has previously used dehumanizing terminology to describe migrants who are in the United States in an irregular situation, calling them “animals” when talking about alleged criminal acts, and saying that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a phrase that has sparked criticism for being xenophobic and for echoing Nazi rhetoric. Another rally attendee, a Florida-based Republican, said he wanted to give Trump a chance to “get his vote back,” given his concerns about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and the fact that former members of The Trump Administration turned against the former president. Thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol in Washington DC that day in an attempt to stop the formal certification of his election defeat, causing millions of dollars in damage. Four people died the day of the attack, and a Capitol Police officer who fought the rioters died the next day. Trump gave a lengthy response in which he described Jan. 6 as a “day of love” and said former administration officials who had turned against him were angry at being fired.
“I hope that one day maybe we will have your vote,” Trump said in conclusion. “It seems like I might not, but that’s okay too.” (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Costas Pitas; editing by Colleen Jenkins, Deepa Babington and Jamie Freed; Spanish editing by Mireia Merino)
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