Topline
Vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance defended his false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, telling CNN on Sunday he used the stories to draw attention to “suffering”—as local officials heavily criticize the claims made by Vance and former President Donald Trump and warn the city is facing “hate.”
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said when he was repeating the disproven claims that … [+]
Key Facts
When asked about his claim last week that “reports” show immigrants have eaten people’s pets, Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash he has heard “firsthand accounts” from his constituents about issues in Springfield, which has seen a recent influx of immigrants from Haiti—though he did not provide evidence to back up the claims.
The claim that Haitian migrants have eaten dogs and cats has been debunked: A Springfield police official told Forbes there have been “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” and some viral tweets about an alleged cat-eating incident actually took place elsewhere in Ohio and didn’t involve an immigrant.
When pressed for evidence, Vance said he was trying to highlight alleged problems in Springfield, which he said weren’t discussed in the media until he and Trump “started talking about cat memes.”
Vance said he wanted to “create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people”—a quote highlighted by Bash, to which Vance clarified he meant they were “creating the American media focusing on it.”
Vance also defended allegations about immigrants eating geese from a local pond, saying there were 911 calls of people “complaining about that exact thing”—though Bash pointed out officials found two calls in 11 months of people claiming Haitians were taking geese, and there was “zero evidence to substantiate those claims.”
When asked by Bash about complaints from Springfield Mayor Rob Rue about federal politicians “hurting our city” with their words—likely referring to the hospitals and schools that were closed late last week due to bomb threats—Vance denied his actions were the cause of the threats.
When he was asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday about the far-right group the Proud Boys marching through Springfield after his comments, Vance said he doesn’t align himself with their views but accused media outlets of using their march “to ignore and distract from the fact that thanks to Kamala Harris’s open borders, there are children who aren’t getting a good education.”
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Chief Critic
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine defended his state’s Haitian community on ABC News Sunday morning, saying they came to Ohio to work, “are very good workers” and are helping the Springfield economy. With regard to the false claim that pets are being eaten, DeWine said: “This is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There’s no evidence of this at all.” Meanwhile, Rue told Politico the city is being “smeared” and is “caught in a political vortex.”
Tangent
Some critics highlighted Vance’s quote about “creating” the stories about pets being eaten. He insisted in a tweet he didn’t admit to making up the story, calling it “a dishonest smear.” He wrote: “I didn’t invent constituents complaining about this. We did help create the media focus on their complaints.”
Key Background
Vance spread the false claims that migrants were eating pets last Monday, after they began circulating among right-wing commentators and influencers, and defended them on Tuesday, saying in a post on X his office had “received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants.” He acknowledged in the post the “rumors” could “turn out to be false,” but encouraged people to continue posting memes about the situation. The claims gained more traction when Trump repeated that dogs and cats were being eaten by Haitian migrants in Tuesday’s debate. City officials have estimated about 20,000 Haitian migrants have arrived in recent years in Springfield—which had a population of 58,000 people in 2020 but has seen an uptick in manufacturing jobs—often holding legal status through a temporary federal program. Many employers credit the city’s new residents, though some locals have warned the sudden influx has put pressure on schools and hospitals.
Big Number
Two. That’s how many schools were evacuated Friday—and one other was closed—after a threat was sent to the school district by someone who voiced “frustrations about immigration, about Haitians within this community and about political leadership.” On Thursday, multiple facilities in Springfield received threats, including city hall, another elementary school and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Mayor Rue said there’s fear in Springfield after the threats, ABC News reported, adding: “We need help, not hate.”
