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It was an infamous myth brought up during last year’s presidential election, and now the unsubstantiated claim that Haitian migrants are eating cats and dogs has come up again because of JD Vance, with the US vice president facing a wave of fresh criticism online for regurgitating the harmful assertion.
As a reminder, President Donald Trump brought up Haitians in Ohio in his one and only televised debate with then vice president and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in September last year.
Back then, he said: “What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country and look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
Vance, meanwhile, wrote on Twitter/X: "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?”
At the time, a Springfield police spokesperson said in a statement: “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."
Nevertheless, in the latest episode of the New York Post’s podcast Pod Force One on Wednesday, Vance once again pushed the claim about Haitian migrants in the state he used to represent as a senator.
He told presenter and columnist Miranda Devine: “This was, as you remember, the big controversy about all of the migrants who came into Haiti – who were 20,000 immigrants, Haitian migrants, in a town of 40,000 people.
“So you blink your eyes in Springfield, Ohio, and you wake up, and literally a third of the population of your town is now Haitian immigrants.”
“Eating cats and dogs,” added Devine.
“Eating cats and dogs,” Vance agreed.
The resurfacing of the unfounded assertion has since been branded “shameful” by Twitter/X users:
Podcaster Jesse Singal wrote: “Not a good human being”:
Joe Gallina, of the progressive platform Call to Activism, tweeted the comments were “unbelievable”:
And another account pointed out Vance once admitted he was willing to ‘create stories’ for media attention:
In the same month that Trump pushed the ‘cats and dogs’ claim in the presidential debate, Vance appeared to admit to CNN that he made it all up.
“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.
“I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.
"I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris’s policies. Her policies did that.
“But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris’s policies,” he said.
Why not read…
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- Trump has another 'covfefe' moment with bizarre Truth Social rambling
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