Fact Check: Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating people's pets

Fact Check: Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating people's pets

Published March 14, 2025Updated June 18, 2025
VERDICT
False

# Fact Check: "Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating people's pets" ## What We Know In September 2024, false claims began circulating onl...

Fact Check: "Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating people's pets"

What We Know

In September 2024, false claims began circulating online alleging that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating pets. The rumors originated from a Facebook post in a local group, which described a cat being butchered by Haitian residents. This post was quickly amplified by far-right groups and prominent political figures, including Republican Senator JD Vance and former President Donald Trump, who repeated the baseless claims (source-1, source-2).

Local law enforcement and city officials, including Springfield's mayor Rob Rue and Ohio governor Mike DeWine, have publicly denounced these claims, stating that there is no credible evidence to support them (source-1, source-4). The original Facebook post's author later admitted that the story was based on rumors and not firsthand information (source-1, source-6).

Analysis

The claims regarding Haitian immigrants eating pets have been thoroughly debunked by multiple sources. Fact-checking organizations, including Snopes and PolitiFact, have labeled the allegations as unfounded and characterized them as a hoax (source-1, source-8). The narrative was primarily spread by far-right activists and has been linked to existing racial tensions in the community, exacerbated by the rapid increase in the Haitian immigrant population in Springfield (source-1, source-5).

The credibility of the sources promoting these claims is questionable. Many are aligned with far-right ideologies, which raises concerns about potential bias and the intent behind spreading such misinformation. For instance, JD Vance's comments were made in the context of a political attack, suggesting a motive beyond mere reporting of facts (source-2). The amplification of these claims by influential figures like Elon Musk further complicates the narrative, as it demonstrates how misinformation can spread rapidly across social media platforms (source-2).

Conclusion

The claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people's pets is False. There is no credible evidence to support these allegations, and they have been widely discredited by local law enforcement, city officials, and fact-checking organizations. The spread of these rumors appears to be rooted in racial prejudice and has been fueled by political motivations rather than factual reporting.

Sources

  1. Springfield pet-eating hoax - Wikipedia
  2. JD Vance spreads debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets
  3. Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants ...
  4. Fact Check: No evidence of Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets ...
  5. Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in ...
  6. 'It just exploded': Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark ...
  7. Unfounded Claims Target Springfield Officials, Haitian Immigrants
  8. Trump repeats baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield ...

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Fact Check: Paul Krugman Paul Krugman We’re All Rats Now Time to take a stand, again, against racism Paul Krugman Jun 30, 2025 Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory in New York’s Democratic primary has created panic in MAGAland. Stephen Miller, the architect of Donald Trump’s deportation policies, waxed apocalyptic: Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, declared that New York is about to turn into “Caracas on the Hudson.” And Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama basically declared New York’s voters subhuman, saying: These inner-city rats, they live off the federal government. And that’s one reason we’re $37 trillion in debt. And it’s time we find these rats and we send them back home, that are living off the American taxpayers that are working very hard every week to pay taxes. These reactions are vile, and they’re also dishonest. Whatever these men may claim, it’s all about bigotry. Miller isn’t concerned about the state of New York “society.” What bothers him is the idea of nonwhite people having political power. Bessent isn’t really deeply worried about Zamdani’s economic ideas. But he feels free, maybe even obliged, to slander a foreign-born Muslim with language he would never use about a white Christian politician, even if that politician were (like some of his colleagues in the Trump administration) a total crackpot. And while Tuberville stands out even within his caucus as an ignorant fool, his willingness to use dehumanizing language about millions of people shows that raw racism is rapidly becoming mainstream in American politics. Remember, during the campaign both Trump and JD Vance amplified the slanders about Haitians eating pets. And now that they’re in office, you can see the resurgence of raw racism all across Trump administration policies, large and small. You can see it, for example, in the cuts at the National Institutes of Health, which are so tilted against racial minorities that a federal judge — one appointed by Ronald Reagan! — declared I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable. I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this. You can see it in the renaming of military bases after Confederate generals — that is, traitors who fought for slavery. You can even see it in a change in the military’s shaving policy that is clearly custom-designed to drive Black men — who account for around a quarter of the Army’s new recruits — out of the service. So racism and bigotry are back, big time. Who’s safe? Nobody. Are you a legal immigrant? Well, the Supreme Court just allowed Trump to summarily strip half a million U.S. residents of that status, and only a fool would imagine that this is the end of the story. Anyway, when masked men who claim to be ICE agents but refuse to show identification are grabbing people off the streets because they think those people look illegal, does legal status even matter? Does it even matter if you’re a U.S. citizen? And the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is set to massively increase ICE’s funding — basically setting up a huge national secret police force. Now, maybe you imagine that you yourself won’t suffer from this new reign of bigotry and imagine that everyone you care about is similarly safe. But if that’s what you think, you’re likely to face a rude awakening. I personally don’t have any illusions of safety. Yes, I’m a native-born white citizen. But my wife and her family are Black, and some of my friends and relatives are foreign-born U.S. citizens. Furthermore, I’m Jewish, and anyone who knows their history realizes that whenever right-wing bigotry is on the ascendant, we’re always next in line. Are there really people out there naïve enough to believe MAGA’s claims to be against antisemitism, who can’t see the transparent cynicism and dishonesty? The fact is that the Trump administration already contains a number of figures with strong ties to antisemitic extremists. The Great Replacement Theory, which has de facto become part of MAGA’s ideology, doesn’t just say that there’s a conspiracy to replace whites with people of color; it says that it’s a Jewish conspiracy. So I’m definitely scared of what the many antisemites inside or with close ties to the Trump administration may eventually do. And no, I’m not frightened at all by the prospect that New York may soon have a somewhat leftist Muslim mayor. Anyway, my personal fears are beside the point. Everyone who cares about keeping America America needs to take a stand against the resurgence of bigotry. Because the truth is that we’re all rats now. MUSICAL CODA Discussion about this post Michael Roseman Jun 30 Edited For a while, American bigotry was ashamed of itself. Or pretended to be. Now it runs the government. Reply Share 106 replies Megan Rothery Jun 30 Edited Take a stand - Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, as well as those in others. Use your voice and make some “good trouble” ❤️‍🩹🤍💙 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk Reply Share 31 replies 852 more comments... No posts Ready for more? © 2025 Paul Krugman Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice Start writing Get the app Substack is the home for great culture

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Paul Krugman Paul Krugman We’re All Rats Now Time to take a stand, again, against racism Paul Krugman Jun 30, 2025 Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory in New York’s Democratic primary has created panic in MAGAland. Stephen Miller, the architect of Donald Trump’s deportation policies, waxed apocalyptic: Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, declared that New York is about to turn into “Caracas on the Hudson.” And Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama basically declared New York’s voters subhuman, saying: These inner-city rats, they live off the federal government. And that’s one reason we’re $37 trillion in debt. And it’s time we find these rats and we send them back home, that are living off the American taxpayers that are working very hard every week to pay taxes. These reactions are vile, and they’re also dishonest. Whatever these men may claim, it’s all about bigotry. Miller isn’t concerned about the state of New York “society.” What bothers him is the idea of nonwhite people having political power. Bessent isn’t really deeply worried about Zamdani’s economic ideas. But he feels free, maybe even obliged, to slander a foreign-born Muslim with language he would never use about a white Christian politician, even if that politician were (like some of his colleagues in the Trump administration) a total crackpot. And while Tuberville stands out even within his caucus as an ignorant fool, his willingness to use dehumanizing language about millions of people shows that raw racism is rapidly becoming mainstream in American politics. Remember, during the campaign both Trump and JD Vance amplified the slanders about Haitians eating pets. And now that they’re in office, you can see the resurgence of raw racism all across Trump administration policies, large and small. You can see it, for example, in the cuts at the National Institutes of Health, which are so tilted against racial minorities that a federal judge — one appointed by Ronald Reagan! — declared I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable. I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this. You can see it in the renaming of military bases after Confederate generals — that is, traitors who fought for slavery. You can even see it in a change in the military’s shaving policy that is clearly custom-designed to drive Black men — who account for around a quarter of the Army’s new recruits — out of the service. So racism and bigotry are back, big time. Who’s safe? Nobody. Are you a legal immigrant? Well, the Supreme Court just allowed Trump to summarily strip half a million U.S. residents of that status, and only a fool would imagine that this is the end of the story. Anyway, when masked men who claim to be ICE agents but refuse to show identification are grabbing people off the streets because they think those people look illegal, does legal status even matter? Does it even matter if you’re a U.S. citizen? And the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is set to massively increase ICE’s funding — basically setting up a huge national secret police force. Now, maybe you imagine that you yourself won’t suffer from this new reign of bigotry and imagine that everyone you care about is similarly safe. But if that’s what you think, you’re likely to face a rude awakening. I personally don’t have any illusions of safety. Yes, I’m a native-born white citizen. But my wife and her family are Black, and some of my friends and relatives are foreign-born U.S. citizens. Furthermore, I’m Jewish, and anyone who knows their history realizes that whenever right-wing bigotry is on the ascendant, we’re always next in line. Are there really people out there naïve enough to believe MAGA’s claims to be against antisemitism, who can’t see the transparent cynicism and dishonesty? The fact is that the Trump administration already contains a number of figures with strong ties to antisemitic extremists. The Great Replacement Theory, which has de facto become part of MAGA’s ideology, doesn’t just say that there’s a conspiracy to replace whites with people of color; it says that it’s a Jewish conspiracy. So I’m definitely scared of what the many antisemites inside or with close ties to the Trump administration may eventually do. And no, I’m not frightened at all by the prospect that New York may soon have a somewhat leftist Muslim mayor. Anyway, my personal fears are beside the point. Everyone who cares about keeping America America needs to take a stand against the resurgence of bigotry. Because the truth is that we’re all rats now. MUSICAL CODA Discussion about this post Michael Roseman Jun 30 Edited For a while, American bigotry was ashamed of itself. Or pretended to be. Now it runs the government. Reply Share 106 replies Megan Rothery Jun 30 Edited Take a stand - Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, as well as those in others. Use your voice and make some “good trouble” ❤️‍🩹🤍💙 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk Reply Share 31 replies 852 more comments... No posts Ready for more? © 2025 Paul Krugman Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice Start writing Get the app Substack is the home for great culture

Jul 20, 2025
Read more →
Fact Check: Transcript
00:00
White conservatives is not
considering this child an
anchor baby. Education is
elevation and let's get into
the conservative contradictions
of everything they say about
immigration. For instance, do
y'all know that Melania Trump's
visa was questioned in a
congressional hearing this
January twenty twenty-five. You
want to know why? Melania Trump
was a college dropout who
arrived in the United States on
a Einstein visa. Get this
though. Reserved. The other
visa is reserved for people
with extraordinary ability and
sustained national
international acclaim such as a
palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter,
But listen, Baron was born
00:32
March 20th two thousand and 6.
Melania became a US citizen
July twenty-8th two thousand
and 6. Trump wants to end
birthright citizenship when his
own child is a product of
birthright citizenship. We can
question a Mexican-American
citizen for marrying an
undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah,
we gotta be able to question
when Europeans do the same
thing or no. On my mama, think
about it. There are 666, 000
illegal immigrants in the
United States from European
countries. The vast majority of
them are white. Yet you don't
01:03
see a single one of them have
their children stripped away
from them, raided, locked up in
cages, and we all know why. You
know equal protection under the
law has always been a myth and
the word immigration has always
been a cold word for unwanted
color people. They ain't
worried about they child being
kidnapped. They ain't worried
about dropping Baron off at
school or in college and him
being being kidnapped by masked
Asians. Elon Musk worked in
United States illegally in 1995
after quit his school job. I
feel like if a Haitian
immigrant came over here and
worked illegally and ended up
amassing a whole bunch of
wealth they will find and trump wants to end birthright citizen ship?	
everything to be illegitimate
because you started off
illegal. Let's pay attention to
the language too y'all. So
Donald Trump's grandfather was
a illegal migrant and a Trojan
horse. Which means that Donald
Trump's parents is a product of
being what they call what a
tether baby, a anchor baby, a
birthright citizenship. To the
people on this side, they do
not believe that the Second
Amendment only applies to
muskets. So you believe that
their only applies to the
sentence of slaves is stupid.
Which brings me to another
point. When these folks want to
distance themselves from
02:06
everybody that benefited from
slavery, they love to tell you
about their proud immigrant
background a
Partially True
🎯 Similar

Fact Check: Transcript 00:00 White conservatives is not considering this child an anchor baby. Education is elevation and let's get into the conservative contradictions of everything they say about immigration. For instance, do y'all know that Melania Trump's visa was questioned in a congressional hearing this January twenty twenty-five. You want to know why? Melania Trump was a college dropout who arrived in the United States on a Einstein visa. Get this though. Reserved. The other visa is reserved for people with extraordinary ability and sustained national international acclaim such as a palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter, But listen, Baron was born 00:32 March 20th two thousand and 6. Melania became a US citizen July twenty-8th two thousand and 6. Trump wants to end birthright citizenship when his own child is a product of birthright citizenship. We can question a Mexican-American citizen for marrying an undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah, we gotta be able to question when Europeans do the same thing or no. On my mama, think about it. There are 666, 000 illegal immigrants in the United States from European countries. The vast majority of them are white. Yet you don't 01:03 see a single one of them have their children stripped away from them, raided, locked up in cages, and we all know why. You know equal protection under the law has always been a myth and the word immigration has always been a cold word for unwanted color people. They ain't worried about they child being kidnapped. They ain't worried about dropping Baron off at school or in college and him being being kidnapped by masked Asians. Elon Musk worked in United States illegally in 1995 after quit his school job. I feel like if a Haitian immigrant came over here and worked illegally and ended up amassing a whole bunch of wealth they will find and trump wants to end birthright citizen ship? everything to be illegitimate because you started off illegal. Let's pay attention to the language too y'all. So Donald Trump's grandfather was a illegal migrant and a Trojan horse. Which means that Donald Trump's parents is a product of being what they call what a tether baby, a anchor baby, a birthright citizenship. To the people on this side, they do not believe that the Second Amendment only applies to muskets. So you believe that their only applies to the sentence of slaves is stupid. Which brings me to another point. When these folks want to distance themselves from 02:06 everybody that benefited from slavery, they love to tell you about their proud immigrant background a

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Transcript 00:00 White conservatives is not considering this child an anchor baby. Education is elevation and let's get into the conservative contradictions of everything they say about immigration. For instance, do y'all know that Melania Trump's visa was questioned in a congressional hearing this January twenty twenty-five. You want to know why? Melania Trump was a college dropout who arrived in the United States on a Einstein visa. Get this though. Reserved. The other visa is reserved for people with extraordinary ability and sustained national international acclaim such as a palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter, But listen, Baron was born 00:32 March 20th two thousand and 6. Melania became a US citizen July twenty-8th two thousand and 6. Trump wants to end birthright citizenship when his own child is a product of birthright citizenship. We can question a Mexican-American citizen for marrying an undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah, we gotta be able to question when Europeans do the same thing or no. On my mama, think about it. There are 666, 000 illegal immigrants in the United States from European countries. The vast majority of them are white. Yet you don't 01:03 see a single one of them have their children stripped away from them, raided, locked up in cages, and we all know why. You know equal protection under the law has always been a myth and the word immigration has always been a cold word for unwanted color people. They ain't worried about they child being kidnapped. They ain't worried about dropping Baron off at school or in college and him being being kidnapped by masked Asians. Elon Musk worked in United States illegally in 1995 after quit his school job. I feel like if a Haitian immigrant came over here and worked illegally and ended up amassing a whole bunch of wealth they will find and trump wants to end birthright citizen ship? everything to be illegitimate because you started off illegal. Let's pay attention to the language too y'all. So Donald Trump's grandfather was a illegal migrant and a Trojan horse. Which means that Donald Trump's parents is a product of being what they call what a tether baby, a anchor baby, a birthright citizenship. To the people on this side, they do not believe that the Second Amendment only applies to muskets. So you believe that their only applies to the sentence of slaves is stupid. Which brings me to another point. When these folks want to distance themselves from 02:06 everybody that benefited from slavery, they love to tell you about their proud immigrant background a

Jul 20, 2025
Read more →
Fact Check: Transcript
00:00
White conservatives is not
considering this child an
anchor baby. Education is
elevation and let's get into
the conservative contradictions
of everything they say about
immigration. For instance, do
y'all know that Melania Trump's
visa was questioned in a
congressional hearing this
January twenty twenty-five. You
want to know why? Melania Trump
was a college dropout who
arrived in the United States on
a Einstein visa. Get this
though. Reserved. The other
visa is reserved for people
with extraordinary ability and
sustained national
international acclaim such as a
palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter,
But listen, Baron was born
00:32
March 20th two thousand and 6.
Melania became a US citizen
July twenty-8th two thousand
and 6. Trump wants to end
birthright citizenship when his
own child is a product of
birthright citizenship. We can
question a Mexican-American
citizen for marrying an
undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah,
we gotta be able to question
when Europeans do the same
thing or no. On my mama, think
about it. There are 666, 000
illegal immigrants in the
United States from European
countries. The vast majority of
them are white. Yet you don't
01:03
see a single one of them have
their children stripped away
from them, raided, locked up in
cages, and we all know why. You
know equal protection under the
law has always been a myth and
the word immigration has always
been a cold word for unwanted
color people. They ain't
worried about they child being
kidnapped. They ain't worried
about dropping Baron off at
school or in college and him
being being kidnapped by masked
Asians. Elon Musk worked in
United States illegally in 1995
after quit his school job. I
feel like if a Haitian
immigrant came over here and
worked illegally and ended up
amassing a whole bunch of
wealth they will find
True
🎯 Similar

Fact Check: Transcript 00:00 White conservatives is not considering this child an anchor baby. Education is elevation and let's get into the conservative contradictions of everything they say about immigration. For instance, do y'all know that Melania Trump's visa was questioned in a congressional hearing this January twenty twenty-five. You want to know why? Melania Trump was a college dropout who arrived in the United States on a Einstein visa. Get this though. Reserved. The other visa is reserved for people with extraordinary ability and sustained national international acclaim such as a palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter, But listen, Baron was born 00:32 March 20th two thousand and 6. Melania became a US citizen July twenty-8th two thousand and 6. Trump wants to end birthright citizenship when his own child is a product of birthright citizenship. We can question a Mexican-American citizen for marrying an undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah, we gotta be able to question when Europeans do the same thing or no. On my mama, think about it. There are 666, 000 illegal immigrants in the United States from European countries. The vast majority of them are white. Yet you don't 01:03 see a single one of them have their children stripped away from them, raided, locked up in cages, and we all know why. You know equal protection under the law has always been a myth and the word immigration has always been a cold word for unwanted color people. They ain't worried about they child being kidnapped. They ain't worried about dropping Baron off at school or in college and him being being kidnapped by masked Asians. Elon Musk worked in United States illegally in 1995 after quit his school job. I feel like if a Haitian immigrant came over here and worked illegally and ended up amassing a whole bunch of wealth they will find

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Transcript 00:00 White conservatives is not considering this child an anchor baby. Education is elevation and let's get into the conservative contradictions of everything they say about immigration. For instance, do y'all know that Melania Trump's visa was questioned in a congressional hearing this January twenty twenty-five. You want to know why? Melania Trump was a college dropout who arrived in the United States on a Einstein visa. Get this though. Reserved. The other visa is reserved for people with extraordinary ability and sustained national international acclaim such as a palitza, Oscar, Olympic Winter, But listen, Baron was born 00:32 March 20th two thousand and 6. Melania became a US citizen July twenty-8th two thousand and 6. Trump wants to end birthright citizenship when his own child is a product of birthright citizenship. We can question a Mexican-American citizen for marrying an undocumented Mexican. Oh yeah, we gotta be able to question when Europeans do the same thing or no. On my mama, think about it. There are 666, 000 illegal immigrants in the United States from European countries. The vast majority of them are white. Yet you don't 01:03 see a single one of them have their children stripped away from them, raided, locked up in cages, and we all know why. You know equal protection under the law has always been a myth and the word immigration has always been a cold word for unwanted color people. They ain't worried about they child being kidnapped. They ain't worried about dropping Baron off at school or in college and him being being kidnapped by masked Asians. Elon Musk worked in United States illegally in 1995 after quit his school job. I feel like if a Haitian immigrant came over here and worked illegally and ended up amassing a whole bunch of wealth they will find

Jul 20, 2025
Read more →
Fact Check: Biden condemned Trump's comments on Haitian immigrants as attacks.
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Jun 28, 2025
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Fact Check: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods, now facing deportation.
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Fact Check: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods, now facing deportation.

Detailed fact-check analysis of: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods, now facing deportation.

Jun 23, 2025
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Fact Check: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods before legal status loss.
False

Fact Check: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods before legal status loss.

Detailed fact-check analysis of: At least 100 Haitian immigrants worked at Tyson Foods before legal status loss.

Jun 23, 2025
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