JD Vance Slammed For ‘Ludicrous And Stupid’ Attack On Haitian Immigrants

A White House national security spokesperson on Tuesday denounced Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s “dangerous” comments suggesting Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating people’s pets.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby addressed Vance’s baseless claims shortly after the Ohio senator doubled down on them.

“This kind of disinformation is dangerous because there will be people that believe it no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is,” Kirby said at a press briefing. “And they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So, it needs to stop.”

He also added that Vance’s comments are clearly “based on an element of racism.”

Florida lawmakers also stood up for Haitians and Haitian Americans in response to Vance’s comments.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), whose district encompasses part of Miami-Dade County, home to the highest concentration of Haitian immigrants in the U.S., called Vance’s comments despicable.

“It’s vile, and for any American, any person who lives here or governs here, to think that’s normal to say and to be accepting of that kind of verbiage, is unconscionable,” Wilson told HuffPost on Tuesday.

“He’s already talked about the cat ladies, and he’s talked about what grandmothers need to do. I mean, this man is nuts,” she added.

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), whose district is further north in Orlando, also slammed Vance.

“JD Vance and GOP leaders’ racially motivated attacks against Haitian people are disgusting, bigoted and based on flat-out lies,” he said in a statement.

And Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), when asked about furor over Vance’s comments, offered praise for the Haitian community in Florida.

“I’ve got a wonderful experience with Haitians in my state,” Scott told HuffPost, adding that he had not heard about any Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets.

Vance first started spreading the rumor on social media Monday, narrowing in on Springfield, Ohio, a blue-collar city in Clark County that’s become home to many immigrants from Haiti fleeing political upheaval and rule by violent gangs in their home country.

“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote Monday on X, formerly called Twitter. “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?”

Vance hasn’t said where he heard such “reports” about pet abductions, which Springfield police have said don’t exist. But the racist claim has been circulating on Trump-aligned social media accounts for days.

And while Springfield’s mayor has expressed some concerns about paying for translation services in schools and hospitals, business owners have said Haitian immigrants are also helping boost the economy, according to The Haitian Times.

Vance repeated his claims Tuesday, posting on X that his office “has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants.”

However, he admitted that it’s possible these “rumors will turn out to be false.”

He also suggested Tuesday that Haitian immigrants are to blame for a rise in HIV, though the most recent available data from the Ohio Department of Health shows no significant increase in the number of people in Clark County living with HIV from 2018 to 2022.

Vance, meanwhile, has said nothing of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the Republican who admitted in her recent memoir that she shot and killed her own dog.