Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said Sunday that he stands by claims that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have eaten pets.
During an interview on CNN, Vance was pressed on posts and statements he’s made on X about pet eating in the city, which has seen a surge of up to 20,000 Haitian immigrants in the past few years.
He said that the pet eating claims came “from firsthand accounts from my constituents.”
“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. 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 told the outlet.
Responding to CNN’s questions about whether the allegations are false, Vance said, “We created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story.”
Over the past week, Vance and some conservative-leaning social media accounts have made memes on the topic including artificial intelligence-generated memes showing pets holding signs endorsing former President Donald Trump, who mentioned the allegations during last week’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The mayor of Springfield and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine have repeatedly denied the reports, while the state’s attorney general said a police call confirmed the reports.
“I’d like to first say Springfield is still beautiful and your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio. Safe,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said on NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo last week, adding that the pet-eating claims has created a “negative light” of the city.
“These claims are, they were just untrue. And we may mention that … we just don’t see reports of those,” Rue said of Trump’s remark.
He also noted that citizens testified to city council about incidents of Haitian migrants killing geese.
On Sunday, DeWine, who runs a charity in Haiti, defended the Haitians in Springfield by saying that many of them are not in the United States illegally.
“I think it’s unfortunate that this came up. Let me tell you what we do know, though. What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal,” DeWine told ABC News. “They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in. These Haitians came in to work for these companies.”
“What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers,” he added. “They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy. Now, are there problems connected? Well, sure. When you go from a population of 58,000 and add 15,000 people onto that, you’re going to have some challenges and some problems. And we’re addressing those.”
DeWine also said there are “legitimate problems” with the U.S. border and reiterated his support for Trump in the 2024 election.
Last week, the Trump campaign sought to highlight a police call made last month to a Clark County dispatcher about alleged geese-hunting in Springfield, although few details were provided. The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims in the call and has contacted the sheriff’s department for comment.
Claims were also made during multiple Springfield town hall meetings by local residents.
“These Haitians are running into trash cans. They’re running into buildings. They’re flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don’t know how like, y’all can be comfortable with this,” a resident, Anthony Harris, told city officials last month, although he did not provide any evidence or details. “They’re in the park, grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their heads off and eating them.”
Several bomb threats have also been made to various places across Springfield in recent days, including government buildings, hospitals, and schools.
From The Epoch Times