Trump campaign amplifies baseless rumors of migrants stealing pets
- Published on September 11, 2024 at 01:45
- Updated on September 13, 2024 at 19:38
- 8 min read
- By Daniel FUNKE, AFP USA
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"Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio," said Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance in a September 9, 2024 X post.
"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?"
Trump referenced the allegations in several posts on his Truth Social platform, seeking to contrast his immigration stance with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris's support for humanitarian parole for Haitian migrants ahead of the White House contenders' first and possibly only televised debate.
Other conservative lawmakers, officials and influencers -- as well as Fox News and Elon Musk -- also latched onto the Haitian migrant rumors to promote Trump's candidacy.
"Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!" Republicans on the US House Judiciary Committee posted September 9 on X, sharing a fabricated image of the former president rescuing a white duck and a striped cat.
Trump later aired the allegations during the September 10 debate hosted by ABC News.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats," he said. "They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country."
Two days later, government buildings and an elementary school in Springfield were evacuated after an emailed bomb threat. Mayor Rob Rue told the Springfield News-Sun that the person who sent it claimed to be from the city and mentioned Haitian immigration issues.
The claims about migrants eating pets -- which spread across X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and TikTok -- appear to stem from a post in a Facebook group called "Springfield Ohio Crime & Information" (archived here).
"Warning to all about our beloved pets & those around us!!" says text in the screenshot circulating online.
"My neighbor informed me that her daughters (sic) friend had lost her cat. She checked pages, kennels, asked around, etc. One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you'd do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat."
Citing "Rangers & police," the post adds that "they are doing it to dogs," as well as "ducks & geese" in a local park.
However, the Springfield Police Division (SPD) told AFP the allegations are baseless.
"In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," the SPD said in a September 9 statement.
AFP contacted the Clark County Sheriff's Office for additional comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
'No verified instances'
The rumors rely on a mix of unrelated crime reports, out-of-context images and baseless allegations from city meetings.
Keyword searches indicate many posts, including some in Spanish, misconstrue an August incident in which a woman from Canton, Ohio -- about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of Springfield -- was arrested for allegedly killing and eating a cat (archived here). State records show suspect Allexis Telia Ferrell is a registered voter and, therefore, a US citizen.
"Our incident is unrelated to the Springfield story to the best of our knowledge," said Dennis Garren, media relations officer for the Canton Police Department, in a September 10 email, adding that Ferrell was "first arrested in our city in 2011."
Garren said in a September 11 follow-up email that he "was able to verify through arrest records that Ferrell was born in Ohio."
A picture of a man carrying what appears to be a goose is also unrelated to Springfield.
A reverse image search shows the photo has circulated since at least July 28 in Reddit threads about Columbus, more than 40 miles (64 kilometers) away (archived here). AFP geolocated the image to a neighborhood in the northern part of the state capital (archived here and here).
The Reddit user who first posted the photo (archived here) shared the original file in a September 12 email with AFP. The metadata confirms they snapped the picture in Columbus on the morning of July 28.
"There is zero proof he was Haitian," the Reddit user said in a direct message, adding that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) reached out about the incident because Canada geese are a protected species.
Other social media posts cite a video of a man speaking at the August 27 Springfield City Commission meeting (archived here).
"These Haitians are running into trash cans, they're running into buildings, they're running into -- they're flipping cars in the middle of the street," he says. "I don't know how y'all can be comfortable with this."
He continues: "They're in the park grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them."
However, the SPD told AFP 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 department added.
ODNR spokeswoman Karina Cheung told AFP the agency has "a dedicated wildlife officer assigned to Clark County who routinely monitors Snyder Park in Springfield because it is a popular fishing area."
"That wildlife officer received calls on two separate occasions from people who reported witnessing individuals of Haitian descent taking waterfowl out of Snyder Park," Cheung said in a September 13 email, sharing copies of the incident reports.
"Upon follow-up, no supporting evidence was found of wildlife being illegally removed from the park in either case."
'Suspicion or outright hostility'
Fleeing the crisis-torn Caribbean nation, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants have settled in Springfield -- a town of some 58,000 people -- over the past five years, local news outlets report (archived here).
The Biden administration's extension of temporary protected status to more than 100,000 Haitian migrants allowed those in the Springfield area to apply to remain until February 2026 (archived here and here).
(AFP / Gabriela VAZ, Gustavo IZUS)
"As migrants arrive in significant numbers in communities that do not have much knowledge of that particular immigrant group and may be dismayed by the pace of change, there can be some tensions around perceived different cultural practices and customs," said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications for the Migration Policy Institute (archived here), in a September 9 email.
"In this environment, rumors can abound and newcomers can be treated with some suspicion or outright hostility."
She pointed to Shelbyville, Tennessee, where an influx of Somali refugees hired by a local chicken processing plant spurred rumors about diseases and terrorism ahead of the 2008 presidential election (archived here and here).
"It is disappointing that some of the narrative surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle," Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said in a video message obtained September 11, 2024 by AFP.
"While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of the growth rather than the rumors being reported. These rumors will not distract us from addressing the real strain on our resources, including the impact to our schools, health care system and first responders."
AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the 2024 US election here.
This article was updated with background from the September 10, 2024 US presidential debate, comments from a Reddit user, AFP reporting from Springfield and information from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.This article was updated with more details about a police suspect in Canton, Ohio and a statement from Springfield's city manager.September 13, 2024 This article was updated with background from the September 10, 2024 US presidential debate, comments from a Reddit user, AFP reporting from Springfield and information from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
September 11, 2024 This article was updated with more details about a police suspect in Canton, Ohio and a statement from Springfield's city manager.
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