Trump Repeats Vile Lie About Immigrants Eating Pets

Donald Trump during the ABC News debate on Tuesday repeated the racist lie that Haitian immigrants have been eating Americans’ pets.

The line from Trump came a day after his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, spread a racist rumor that locals in Springfield, Ohio have had their pets “abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” only to be swiftly debunked by police and public officials. (Vance has since doubled down.)

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said Tuesday night. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. 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.”

Springfield, Ohio has seen a significant increase in Haitian immigrants in recent years.

But there’s simply nothing to back up Trump’s claims. The lie originated in right-wing rumor mills on the internet ― particularly on X, formerly Twitter. Trump allies circulated fourth-hand accounts about a missing cat that was supposedly later seen hanging from a tree ― there’s no evidence this happened ― and linked it to unrelated police body camera footage of an American woman in a city three hours away who was arrested for allegedly killing and eating a cat, but who is not an immigrant.

When debate co-moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump, noting city officials have said there are no reports of any pets being harmed by immigrants, Trump baselessly pushed back and claimed “people on television said their dog was eaten by the people that went there.”

Trump brought up Springfield earlier in Tuesday’s debate as well, lying that it was an example of immigrants “taking over” whole cities and “going in violently.”

Trump launched into his second rant about Springfield when Muir asked why he ordered Republicans to vote against a bipartisan immigration bill. Trump never answered that question.

“What? This is unbelievable,” Harris said in response to the lie while her mic was muted, according to reporters in the room.

Later, Trump repeated lies about crime rates among immigrants, which are lower than crime rates among native-born American citizens, according to available data.