Cat ‘Stolen’ by Haitian Migrants in Ohio Was Really Simply in Cat Proprietor’s Basement

Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign has spent the previous week spreading heinous lies about Haitian immigrants within the city of Springfield, Ohio. “They’re consuming the cats, they’re consuming the canine,” Trump stated throughout his debate with Kamala Harris in Philadelphia final week, echoing nonsense first elevated by JD Vance based mostly on little greater than internet rumors. And a brand new report that attempted to observe up on Vance’s “proof” has proved but once more that he’s filled with shit.

The Wall Avenue Journal earnestly tried to trace down tales of individuals in Springfield who stated their pets had been kidnapped or eaten. A reporter visited Anna Kilgore, a girl within the city who filed a police report in late August as a result of she apprehensive her cat Miss Sassy had been “taken by Haitian neighbors,” after she couldn’t discover her.

The Vance marketing campaign pointed to Kilgore and her story as proof that Haitian immigrants had been really consuming home animals. Nevertheless it merely wasn’t true. Because the Journal reports, the cat “really returned a number of days later—discovered protected in her personal basement.” And Kilgore, who’s a Trump supporter, now appears to have regrets.

“Kilgore, sporting a Trump shirt and hat, stated she apologized to her Haitian neighbors with the assistance of her daughter and a mobile-phone translation app,” the Journal writes.

Nevertheless it’s not simply that one story. Vance has tried to assert he has a mountain of “proof” that migrants are consuming cats, canine, and geese from native parks. And so they all develop into rubbish. NBC Information talked with a girl in Springfield, Erika Lee, who was behind one of many Fb posts that far-right influencers elevated on-line earlier than Vance actually kicked it into excessive gear. It seems Lee’s publish was based mostly on one thing she’d heard from “an acquaintance of a buddy” and that she had no first-hand data of something like that taking place.

“I really feel for the Haitian group,” Lee informed NBC News. “If I used to be within the Haitians’ place, I’d be terrified, too, apprehensive that anyone’s going to return after me as a result of they suppose I’m hurting one thing that they love and that, once more, that’s not what I used to be attempting to do.”

Native authorities officers, together with Republicans, have stated there’s no proof that Haitian immigrants have been consuming pets. Springfield Police Division has harassed the identical, telling NBC Information, “There have been no credible stories or particular claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by people throughout the immigrant group.”

The Wall Avenue Journal additionally tried to fact-check a number of of the opposite claims being made by Vance and his on-line legion of far-right influencers about Haitian migrants in Ohio. And none of them turned out to be true. For instance, Vance has repeatedly stated on the Sunday political TV exhibits that Haitians are inflicting an uptick in illness in Springfield. However the Journal stories a decline in communicable illnesses since 2015 for the overwhelming majority of infections which have been tracked.

From the Journal:

Data from the county well being division, nonetheless, exhibits a lower in infectious illness instances countywide, with 1,370 reported in 2023—the bottom since 2015. The tuberculosis case numbers within the county are so low (4 in 2023, three in 2022, one in 2021) that any little motion can carry an enormous share soar. HIV instances did enhance to 31 in 2023, from 17 in 2022 and 12 in 2021. General, sexually transmitted an infection instances decreased to 965 in 2023, the bottom since 2015.

Amazingly, Vance had the gall guilty the media for the lies he’s spreading about immigrants throughout a rally Tuesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

“I believe the media has a accountability to reality examine the residents of Springfield, not lie about them,” Vance stated in a completely beautiful assertion.

The aim of this coordinated marketing campaign to select on immigrants to the U.S. is to dehumanize them and make them reliable targets for violence. Trump himself makes that reality very blunt when he refers to immigrants as “animals.”

“The Democrats say please don’t name them animals, they’re people. I stated no, they’re not people, they’re not people; they’re animals,” Trump stated at an notorious speech in Michigan back in April.

Springfield has been underneath a state of fixed heightened anxiousness ever since Vance helped focus consideration in town. Hospitals, faculties, and authorities buildings are getting bomb threats. Faculties have been periodically closed over the threats and police are actually deployed because the city tries to dwell with the nation’s eyes on them. Trump is reportedly planning to go to Springfield “soon,” in response to NBC Information, although it’s not clear when that may occur. Failed presidential candidate and Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy has tweeted that he’s holding a city corridor in Springfield on Thursday.

I’m going to go to Springfield, OH on Thursday. Hoping to have a city corridor with native residents, to not stoke extra controversy however to have open & trustworthy dialogue about mass migration. The group says they need assistance, not division. To that finish, I’d wish to make a charitable…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) September 15, 2024

Trump and Vance are virtually definitely spreading these lies about immigrants not simply because they’re vile human beings, however as a result of they’re determined as Kamala Harris positive aspects important floor within the polls. The Morning Consult ballot simply launched on Tuesday has Harris up towards Trump 51% to 45%.

Different typically revered polls even have Harris beating Trump within the widespread vote, although it is going to finally come all the way down to how the Democrat performs in essential battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Fortunately, Harris appears to be doing effectively in these states as effectively, with different states like Georgia and Arizona again in play after President Joe Biden was polling very poorly there earlier than dropping out of the race in late July.

FiveThirtyEight’s state-level polling common exhibits Harris up 2.3 factors in Michigan, up 1.7 factors in Pennsylvania, and a pair of.7 factors in Wisconsin. And Trump is up simply 0.5 factors in Georgia and 0.1 factors in Arizona.

Nobody is aware of what’s going to occur when Individuals go to the polls on November 5 and there’s no telling how a lot worse issues will get for Springfield within the subsequent 48 days earlier than the election. Republicans appear to suppose spreading web rumors is a successful technique. However right here’s hoping they’re mistaken and Trumpism is lastly kicked to the curb as soon as and for all.