Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets
- Published
A baseless claim that illegal immigrants from Haiti have been eating domestic pets in a small Ohio city has been repeated by Donald Trump.
During ABC's presidential debate, Trump said: "In Springfield, they are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there."
But city officials have told BBC Verify there have been “no credible reports" that this has actually happened.
The baseless claim had spread on social media, with Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance promoting it on X. The post has had more than 11 million views.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Vance's comments "dangerous" and a "conspiracy theory... based on an element of racism".
Where did the claim come from?
The claim appears to have come from a number of different sources which have been turned into a cohesive - though baseless - story by pro-Trump social media accounts.
At a 27 August meeting of Springfield’s city commission, a local resident who describes himself as a social media influencer, external launched into a speech against Haitian immigrants.
He gave a long list of grievances, including that they were slaughtering park ducks for food, and accused city officials of being paid to bring in immigrants, but provided no evidence for these claims.
A claim about a cat being killed by Haitian immigrants was made on a Facebook post focusing on crime in Springfield, external, and attributed by the poster to the friend of a neighbour’s daughter.
During the presidential debate on Tuesday, Trump also claimed to have seen “people on television [saying] ‘My dog was taken and used for food’”.
BBC Verify has looked at archive video of every major US broadcaster, including Fox, CNN and CBS. We also used keywords to search for relevant video on social media, and have not identified any televised interview of this nature.
Separately, a news report, external - as well as police bodycam footage - from late August about a woman arrested for killing and eating a cat has also been circulating online.
Many right-wing commentators have referred to the woman as Haitian and pointed to the report as evidence for the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants have been engaged in similar activity.
However, the incident took place in Canton, Ohio, about 170 miles (273km) away from Springfield.
Canton Police told the BBC that the suspect was born in 1997 and that she was a US citizen. The department also told us "we have not dealt with any complaints of Haitian immigrants at all."
BBC Verify spoke to the Springfield City Commission about the claims.
Officials told us: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Claims of other incidents
The claims have also been reflected in a post on Reddit, external with a photo of a man carrying what appears to be a dead goose in Columbus, Ohio., external
On 10 September, the conservative news outlet, The Federalist, published a story with an audio recording allegedly from a non-emergency call to police in Springfield. The caller claimed to have seen four Haitians carrying four geese.
The article also features what is meant to be a police report from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office about the call which it says was made on 26 August.
BBC Verify contacted the sheriff’s office and asked them whether the audio recording and police report were true.
It directed us to a Springfield City government spokesperson who said "these claims were not substantiated".
Memes go viral
Elon Musk has posted memes referring to the baseless claims which have been viewed millions of times.
Charlie Kirk, the CEO of conservative activist group Turning Point, said: “Residents of Springfield, OH are reporting that Haitians are eating their family pets”.
And official Republican party social media channels, such as the Republican House Judiciary Committee X account, have also referred to the claims.
The account posted an AI-generated image of former president Trump, external hugging a duck and a cat with the caption “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!”.
That post was seen nearly 70 million times.
The BBC has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
On Tuesday, Vance appeared to row back on his previous comment and said on X: "It's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false."
But he added: "keep the cat memes flowing".
On Sunday, when challenged about the claim on CNN, he replied: "The evidence is the first-hand account of my constituents who are telling me this happened."
"If i have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what i'm going to do", he added.
Official Republican party social media channels, such as the Republican House Judiciary Committee X account, have also referred to the claims.
Haitian immigrants in Springfield
Springfield, a rust belt city in south-west Ohio, is home to about 60,000 people and has seen thousands of immigrants arrive in recent years.
Many are from Haiti, and city officials say up to 20,000 have made Springfield home in recent years, reversing a long decline that saw the city’s population drop by more than 20,000 over the last 60 years.
The new arrivals have revitalised local industrial companies but have also put a strain on public services. Vance, a senator representing Ohio who grew up about an hour away from Springfield, has repeatedly talked about the city on the campaign trail.
Additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham
Springfield, Ohio, is home to a large migrant population.
