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Election 2024
Luke Garrett, NPR

Vance defends spreading claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets

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Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks to reporters before he departs Pitt-Greenville Airport following a campaign event in Greenville, N.C. on Saturday.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks to reporters before he departs Pitt-Greenville Airport following a campaign event in Greenville, N.C. on Saturday.
Steve Helber/AP

Sen. JD Vance stood by his false claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio — an unsupported story that former President Donald Trump has also echoed on the debate stage and on social media.

During a Sunday interview on CNN, the Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee said his evidence for this claim was "the first-hand accounts of my constituents." He then went on to defend the dissemination of this false story.

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes," Sen. Vance said. "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."

Vance has argued that the media isn't paying enough attention to unchecked immigration and the impact it's having on smaller cities. Springfield, which has around 60,000 residents, has received some 15,000-20,000 migrants in the last four years, many of them from Haiti.

Since these claims were made by Trump and Vance, the Ohio city said it has received numerous bomb threats.

On Friday, Trump told reporters at a news conference in California that he would deport the Haitian migrants in Springfield — as well as in Aurora, Colo., which he said has been taken over by Venezuelan gangs; local Aurora police have said this is hyperbole.

"We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," the Republican presidential nominee said. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora."

In response to the recent influx of around 15,000 Haitians to Springfield, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) plans to send additional law enforcement to the city and $2.5 million in health care aid.

In an interview on NPR's Morning Edition, DeWine said the stories about Haitian migrants eating pets have "no credible evidence."

"If you talk to people, particularly people who are working with the Haitians, what they'll tell you is they're very hard workers," DeWine said. "We had one person the other day saying, I wish I had 100 more working for me … Look, these are good people. The people in Springfield are good people."

Copyright 2024, NPR