Springfield PD: Pets Are Not Being Eaten, Debunking Trump's Debate Claim

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night repeated claims during the ABC presidential debate that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets—a claim that has already been debunked.

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It's the first time Trump has faced Harris on the stage, and although he's a more seasoned debater, he's prone to making unsubstantiated claims, like that the 2020 election was "stolen." Harris and Trump have been polling neck-and-neck in recent days after what was dubbed by some as a "Harris honeymoon" phase of higher-than-normal polling in her favor. Ohio Senator JD Vance, GOP vice presidential candidate, and others have used the rumors to further the Trump campaign's attack line that the Biden administration's border policies have failed.

"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. And a lot of towns don't want to talk—not going to be Aurora [, Colorado] or Springfield [, Ohio]," Trump said during the debate. "A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. 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."

The rumor appeared to start with a post on a private Facebook page, in which a woman claimed Haitian residents had taken her friend's cat, hung it from a tree and were carving it up to eat, Newsweek previously reported.

Rumors began to recirculate online over the weekend and early Monday, pushed by conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, as well as Vance and Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz, with Cruz sharing a meme on X, formerly Twitter, of two kittens embracing with the words "Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don't eat us."

The claims persisted, later including ducks and artificial intelligence renderings of Trump saving animals from harm.

In a statement to Newsweek on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Springfield, a city of 58,000 just outside Dayton, said there had been "no credible reports" that pets or other animals had been harmed or abused by members of the growing immigrant community there.

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also claimed that migrants were causing car crashes, stealing livestock and killing wildlife for food, which the city also denied.

"Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes," the spokesperson told Newsweek.

"Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic."

The viral nature of the story in Springfield, where some 20,000 Haitians have resettled—legally—in recent years, once more showed the polarizing issue of immigration within the presidential election, which the Trump campaign has been stoking as the campaign enters the home stretch.

Local officials in Springfield have acknowledged that the recent Haitian arrivals have helped revitalize the city's moribund economy, but have at the same time pleaded with the federal government for more resources to help resettle them.