JD Vance has drawn heavy criticism after spreading a racist and debunked rumor that illegal immigrants from Haiti are abducting and eating pets in an Ohio town.
Donald Trump’s running mate posted a video of himself online in which he peddled the rumor, and said immigrants were “causing chaos” in the town of Springfield.
The intent of sharing the baseless claim appeared to be to attack Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, over her border and immigration policies.
“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote on X on Monday.
“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”
The post since has been viewed 2.4 million times, according to X.
Vance’s debunked claim appears to have originated from a local Facebook group in Springfield which warned residents to be wary of the Haitian community and alleged that animals, including cats and dogs, were being “carved up” for consumption.
Last month at a Springfield city meeting, a resident also claimed that Haitian migrants were decapitating ducks in public parks and eating them.
Police in Springfield subsequently confirmed that they had received no reports of pets being stolen or eaten, according to the Springfield News-Sun. The force said it was aware of the viral Facebook post but that such claims were false.
As one X user wrote to Vance on Monday: “This has been debunked but of course you’re spreading fake news. You’re desperate and sad.”
“This is a lie. you are a liar, and a bad one at that,” added another.
These claims have also been promoted online by the social media accounts of the Trump War Room, Newsmax, and owner of X, Elon Musk.
Reposting on X, a claim that 20,000 Haitian immigrants were “destroying” Springfield, Musk wrote: “Vote for Kamala if you want this to happen to your neighborhood!” The post has been viewed nearly 10 million times.
The recent posts have sought to tie the baseless claims to a video of Harris stating how the Biden administration has extended temporary protected status to over 100,000 Haitian immigrants.
Vance has previously drawn ire for claiming that Harris supporters were “childless cat ladies.”
The border is a hot-button issue that is expected to be addressed during Tuesday’s first presidential debate between Harris and Trump.
At a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, Trump re-upped his attacks on Harris’ border policy, claiming that “as border czar, Kamala Harris let in over 20 million, they’re now saying the number could be 25 million illegal aliens from 168 different countries.”
“Most people don’t even know that you have that many countries,” he added.
Such numbers are vastly overestimated. US Customs and Border Protection having recorded about 10 million migrant encounters across the country since the start of Joe Biden’s presidency. A migrant can be counted as an encounter on several occasions.
On Saturday, Trump also made his oft-repeated claim that the people crossing the border are “coming from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions and terrorists at a level that we’ve never seen before.”
The Independent has reached out to the Trump/ Vance campaign for comment on Vance’s post and remarks.