Image by R Scott James
Millions of Americans tuned in to the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on September 10, hoping to catch a glimpse of what America would look like under each candidate’s leadership. Throughout the highly anticipated face-off, both Trump and Harris made impactful arguments and had memorable reactions that stuck with the nation. Unsurprisingly, many of these memorable moments found their way onto the internet as memes and videos referencing the debate quickly began to spread.
One particularly popular moment came after the moderators asked Harris about her immigration policies. She concluded her answer with a quick quip at her opponent, claiming that people leave Trump rallies early from boredom and exhaustion. This seemingly distracted Trump from the question at hand, and he immediately responded to Harris with similar quips. Eventually, however, Trump’s response turned to an ongoing internet rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating the pets of other residents. “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said.
Soon after he made this claim, the debate moderators – ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis – announced that there is no evidence from Springfield officials to support this claim. However, Trump didn’t appear bothered by either his apparent falsity or the correction which followed. While this statement made for entertaining internet jokes, at its heart it is a false claim made by a presidential nominee — with the implications to match.
For some viewers, Trump’s claim might have come up out of nowhere. However, these baseless claims against Haitian immigrants began in the days leading up to the presidential debate. Specifically, social media posts expressing suspicions of Springfield’s Haitian residents abducting and eating cats and geese first appeared on X around September 5. These posts received a lot of traction on the platform and were eventually picked up by Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance, who claimed that "people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country." Other political figures and groups also accepted these claims. For example, the Arizona Republican Party made a billboard that read, "EAT LESS KITTENS — vote Republican!"
Although Vance later posted on X that such rumors might be false, he notably avoided taking his statements back. Instead, when reporters questioned his choice to propagate baseless rumors, Vance said he was bringing attention to topics the media otherwise overlooks. He said he is willing to “create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”
Despite the reiteration of these claims across X and the Trump-Vance campaign, it is extremely important to note that there is no evidence supporting them. Officials from the Springfield Police Department, the mayor of Springfield, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine have all come forward to clarify that there are no reports or incidents of pet abduction or consumption in their area. Yet, the damage of having a former president and current presidential nominee voice falsehoods on national television has already been done.
In the week following the presidential debate, Springfield received about 30 bomb threats to various municipal buildings. Such threats included emails stating bombs were planted in the homes of city officials, as well as at schools and colleges. In response to these threats, schools were evacuated or moved to remote classes while the city canceled its annual arts and cultural festival. Fortunately, these threats have been empty, but they have significantly shaken the community and caused some Haitian residents to consider leaving Springfield altogether.
However, Haitian groups across the country have not stayed silent in the face of continuous harassment and alienation. The Haitian Bridge Alliance in Springfield filed citizen criminal charges against Trump and JD Vance to hold them accountable for their false claims since the local prosecutor took no action of their own. Specifically, Trump and Vace are charged with “disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity.” Beyond Ohio, a Haitian group in Miami filed a federal defamation suit against the presidential and vice presidential Republican nominees. While no action has been taken on either of these cases as of yet, their filing hopefully demonstrates that no person is above the law as private citizen groups take legal action against prominent political figures to assert their power and belonging in this country. Furthermore, the Haitian community in Springfield continues to come together, showing solidarity and strength in the face of hate and drawing attention to the truth: they pose no threat to other United States residents. Or their pets.
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