Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance on Sunday again promoted the dubious claim that Haitian immigrants eat their pets, while Ohio's Republican governor denounced the allegation.
“The American media completely ignored all of this until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance complained during a heated exchange on CNN's “State of the Union.”
“If I have to create a story to get the American media to actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, I'm going to do that, Dana, because you're leaving Kamala Harris completely alone,” he told news show co-host Dana Bash.
When pressed by Bash later, Vance quickly explained what creating the story means.
“We're encouraging the American media to focus on that,” Vance said, suggesting the media was downplaying “the suffering caused by Kamala Harris' policies.”
Vance was amping up claims that immigrants were eating locals' pets in Springfield, Ohio, ahead of the ABC News debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris.
Springfield has been inundated with an influx of immigrants, but local officials, including Mayor Rob Lu, deny allegations that immigrants are widely consuming residents' pets.
Ahead of Tuesday's debate, Trump posted a meme backing up the dubious claim.
Then, during the argument, the controversy erupted when Trump claimed, “They're eating dogs. They're eating cats. They're eating people's pets that live there.”
The comment prompted a quick fact-check from the hosts, with host David Muir pointing out that city officials claim there's no evidence of that.
A video compilation of shocking comments from President Trump is going viral on social media.
Vance slammed the fact-checks against his and Trump's claims as “false refutations” and said they were based on stories from his own supporters.
“Constituents in my district have approached me with approximately 12 separate concerns, 10 of which are verifiable,” Vance argued.
“I can either ignore them, as the American media has done for this community for years, or I can actually tell them what people are telling me.”
Amid the unrest, there were bomb threats in Springfield, schools were closed, and hospitals were put on lockdown.
“Nothing I've said constitutes a threat against these hospitals,” Vance said as he argued with Bash. “We condemn it. We condemn any violence and threats of violence.”
Vance said he received a 911 call reporting migrants eating geese in a pond at a local park, despite the media's slamming the allegation.
Bash said the Clark County Sheriff and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reviewed the 911 call. Only two examples of such allegations were found..
Last week, Lou Highlighted by local media outlet WSYX “The federal politicians who have been so damaging to our city need to recognise that they are hurting our city and that it is their words that have caused this.”
“The mayor of Springfield has a lot of terrible problems, and I feel sorry for him, and we're going to try to help him,” Vance said of Lew.
In a separate interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Vance insisted he wasn't making up his pet rumor out of fantasy.
“We don't blame Haitian immigrants for coming to Springfield. We blame Kamala Harris for opening up the southern border of the United States and dropping 20,000 people off in a small town in Ohio,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who is facing term limits ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election, has categorically denied seeing any evidence of the rumors about pet consumption.
“No, absolutely not. The mayor said so. The police chief said so. I think it's unfortunate that this happened,” he said Sunday on ABC News' “This Week.”
“Haitians come to work for these companies, and the companies say they're very good workers. They're very happy to have Haitians here, and frankly, it helps the economy,” DeWine said.
Governor DeWine stressed the problems with immigration to Springfield, including the fact that many of the immigrants “have no driving experience.”
He gently admonished Trump for indulging in “internet trash” and condemned the “hate mobs invading Springfield.”
“This whole discussion about Haitians eating dogs and cats and stuff needs to stop,” he said. “We need to focus on moving forward, not on dogs and cats being eaten. It's ridiculous.”
President Trump on Friday reiterated his intention to launch “the largest deportation in the history of our country” if he wins the Nov. 5 election.
