Trump pushes false claim that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating pets

During the presidential debate Tuesday night, former President Donald Trump doubled down on the false claim that migrants from Haiti are stealing and eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio.

"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats, they're eating, they're eating the pets of the people that live there," Trump said.

These baseless rumors have spread widely online in recent days -- amplified by right-wing politicians, including vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance -- after a series of social media posts have gone viral claiming Haitian migrants were abducting people's pets in order to eat them.

A spokesperson for the city of Springfield told ABC News these claims are false, and that there have been "no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals in the immigrant community."

"Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic," the spokesperson added.

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According to the Springfield News-Sun, the Springfield Police Department has not received any reports of pets being stolen and eaten. The city even created a webpage debunking some of the claims.

Migrants have been drawn to the region because of low cost of living and work opportunities, the city says on its site. The city estimates there are around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in the county, and that the rapid rise in population has strained housing, health care, and school resources. But the city also says that the migrants are in the country legally and that many are recipients of Temporary Protected Status from the federal government.

The false claim that immigrants are targeting people's pets stemmed from a social media posting originally from a Springfield Facebook group that went viral, where the poster wrote that their neighbor's daughter's friend had lost her cat. The poster went on to make an unsubstantiated claim of Haitians allegedly taking the cat for food.

The post was picked up by people on social media, including rightwing activist Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and Elon Musk.

One of the most prominent images circulating online, which depicts a man holding a dead goose, was taken two months ago not in Springfield, but in Columbus, Ohio. The resident who took the photo told ABC News he was surprised to see his image used to "push false narratives."

Prominent Republicans have boosted this falsehood on social media. An AI-generated image, which showed Trump holding cats and ducks, was shared by the House Judiciary GOP account on X.

Vance, in particular, has magnified the debunked claim.

In a post on X, Vance published a video of himself at a July Senate Banking Committee hearing, reading a letter from Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck about the city's challenges in keeping up with housing for the growing Haitian immigrant population.

In the post, Vance pushed the false claim that Haitian immigrants are kidnapping and eating people's pets in Springfield.

"Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio," Vance wrote on X. "Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?" he asked, a term that Republicans have attempted to tag Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris with, although she has denied holding that role.