Democrats go on offense against false claims about Haitians: ‘Racist fearmongers’

House Democrats have launched an aggressive campaign to push back against the false claims from some top Republicans that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbors’ pets.

Led by members of the House Haiti Caucus, the Democrats are warning that the false narrative from the GOP accusers — most notably former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) — has made Haitian immigrants the target of bigoted aggression and violent threats in Springfield and beyond.

The lawmakers are pushing a resolution condemning racism toward Haitians, while urging Republicans to drop their bogus claims amid heightened concerns — from even some within the GOP — that the narrative is damaging community relations in Springfield and other immigrant-heavy areas around the country.

“They have chosen to spew racist and xenophobic lies as a political tool and weaponize rhetoric to place innocent families in harm’s way,” Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), one of three co-chairs of the Haiti Caucus, told reporters outside the Capitol Friday.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), head of the Congressional Black Caucus, echoed that message, saying the baseless pet-eating claim has forced Haitian communities around the country “to live in fear because of a lie.” 

“We can only hope and pray that the false and racist rhetoric by the former president and his running mate and other extremists do not lead to violence – in Springfield or any other Haitian or immigrant community,” Horsford said. “Enough is enough. The racist fear-mongering must stop, and it must stop now.” 

The rumors swirling around Springfield’s Haitian immigrant population were reportedly initiated by a neo-Nazi group that had marched in the city in August. But they reached a national stage on Sept. 9 when Vance, Ohio’s junior senator, posted a message on social media claiming that Springfield residents “have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” 

“Where is our border czar?” he asked, making a reference to Vice President Harris who has led trips to Central America in search of ways to ease the flow of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hours later, Trump broadcast the claim to a much wider audience when he amplified it during his debate with Harris in Philadelphia.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” he said. “They’re eating, they’re eating, the pets of the people that live there.”

The accusation was fact-checked by one of ABC’s debate moderators, who noted that Springfield’s city manager denied any reports of attacks on pets — by Haitians or anyone else. Trump dismissed the pushback, suggesting the city manager was merely covering up unflattering events in Springfield. 

“The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food,” Trump responded. 

The explosive debate over the Haitian migrants reflects the larger battle between the parties when it comes to the thorny topic of immigration.

The border crisis has been a major vulnerability for President Biden — and now for Harris as she seeks the White House. And the Trump campaign has made it a focus of its message to warn that Democrats’ border policies have resulted in a flood of migrants who are now stealing American jobs and threatening public safety. The Springfield episode fit that model neatly.

Yet the claims have been thoroughly debunked by news reports and Ohio officials, including Springfield’s mayor, Rob Rue, and Ohio’s governor, Mike DeWine, both of whom are Republicans. 

In an op-ed in The New York Times on Friday, DeWine went a step further, saying the influx of Haitian migrants has helped to revitalize an economically depressed city while accusing Trump and Vance of setting back some of those gains. 

“This rhetoric hurts the city and its people, and it hurts those who have spent their lives there,” DeWine wrote. 

Since the narrative emerged, dozens of violent threats have been lobbed at Springfield. The threats, according to DeWine, have forced schools to be closed, a hospital to be locked down, community events to be canceled and City Hall to be shuttered. 

“It’s impacting neighborhoods, it’s impacting jobs, it’s impacting employers, it’s impacting businesses, and it’s impacting the psychology of this country,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) said. 

Vance, for his part, has defended his claims, telling CNN last weekend that he’s heard the pet-snatching stories firsthand from constituents. But he also seemed to suggest that he’d be willing to invent a narrative if it shone a light on issues he thinks the press would otherwise ignore. 

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people,” he told CNN on Sunday, “then that’s what I’m going to do.” 

The remarks were not overlooked on Capitol Hill, where the Democrats pushing the resolution in defense of Haitians hammered the vice presidential contender as unfit to serve the public. 

“We’ve seen this before. Authoritarian leaders picking a community, making lies about them, and then turning to their base and saying, ‘If you’re scared, vote for me,’” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said. “We’re here to say that this is racism, this is bigotry, and it should be automatically disqualifying for any elected official to bring this up.”

Some House Republicans have joined in the criticisms. Rep. Mike Turner, the Ohio Republican who represents Springfield, is among the GOP lawmakers voicing alarm.

“This certainly is incredibly tragic and completely untrue,” Turner said Thursday in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “And this should not have happened. It’s been tearing the community apart.”

Turner added that he thinks the episode is over and that Trump and Vance “have moved on.” 

Democrats aren’t so sure, accusing Republicans of continuing to spread the baseless claim in order to energize their conservative base ahead of November’s elections. They were quick to link Trump’s immigration policies to those contained in Project 2025, a broad wish list of conservative policy proposals intended to guide the next GOP president. 

Among the recommendations pushed in that agenda are provisions to eliminate the designation of temporary protected status under which many of the Haitian migrants entered the U.S. legally. 

“Haitian migrants, who escaped national repression, do not deserve to be slandered by racist fearmongers while seeking safety in our country,” Clarke said.