The White House has dismissed what it says are “racist conspiracy theories”

Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance has claimed that illegal immigrants in the state of Ohio have been eating people’s pet cats. The controversial comments by Donald Trump’s running mate have thrown a spotlight on US immigration policies.

Vance took to X on Monday to repeat a claim currently circulating about Haitian migrants in Ohio, stating that his office had received reports that “people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” 

The precise origin of the claim is unclear, but videos of local council meetings posted on X over the weekend show residents of Springfield, Ohio, complaining about littering, violence, and drug dealing among the town’s roughly 20,000 Haitian migrants. Among these accounts were multiple stories of household pets and wild animals such as ducks and geese being killed.

During Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump also repeated the claims.

“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said.

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Around 20,000 Haitians have been placed in Springfield – a town of just under 60,000 people – in the last three years, according to media reports, citing local officials. The town’s website states that these migrants “are here legally, under the Immigration Parole Program” and are eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows them to live and work in the US for up to 18 months without being deported.

Back in June, the White House announced that over 309,000 Haitian migrants living in the US would be granted Temporary Protected Status, on top of the around 200,000 who received this designation in previous years. Harris, who was tapped by Biden to lead his border policy, argued in 2021 that these migrants “need support, [and] need protection.” 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed the Republican candidates’ allegation as a “conspiracy theory…based on an element of racism.” The Springfield Police Division said in a statement that it had received no “specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” nor any reports of “members of the immigrant community overturning vehicles or disrupting traffic” or “squatting, littering or making threats in front of residents’ homes.” 

However, violent crime has soared by 242% in Springfield since large numbers of Haitians began arriving in 2021, according to FBI statistics. In one incident that made national headlines, a Haitian migrant driving without a valid license killed an 11-year-old boy when he plowed his minivan into a school bus last year. An additional 20 children were injured, and the migrant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

“It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” Vance said on Tuesday, referring to the alleged animal killings. “Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases – like TB and HIV – have been on the rise.” 

READ MORE: ‘Apocalyptic situation’ on Caribbean island – UN expert

Meanwhile, the Republican Party has used the allegation to bash Harris. “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz posted on X, above an image of two cowering house cats. “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio,” the House Judiciary Committee’s Republicans wrote in a separate post, above an AI-generated image of Donald Trump hugging a duck and a kitten.