1 day ago
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Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance knew that stories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, stealing and eating domestic pets were untrue before he and his running mate Donald Trump repeatedly amplified the claims, new reporting from The Wall Street Journal has revealed.
Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told the Journal that a staffer for the Ohio senator reached out to him on Sept. 9 and asked if there was any truth to the stories.
“I told him no,” Heck said. “There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
Despite this, Vance did not delete or correct a social media post from that same day stating, “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. 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?”
Haitian immigrants qualifying for Temporary Protected Status have been moving to Springfield to escape the ongoing political violence in their home country. The rumors that they were stealing pets began to take hold on the right in June after anonymous posters in local Facebook groups first brought up the allegations. These stories were then promoted by white supremacists, including the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe. A member of the group later bragged that it had “power” thanks to Trump’s parroting of the lie.
