Biden admin condemns "dangerous" conspiracy about Haitian immigrants

• In a statement shared with Axios, a Springfield Police Division spokesperson said the department had received no "specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community."
• Additionally, the statement said there have been no reports "regarding members of the immigrant community overturning vehicles or disrupting traffic" or "squatting, littering or making threats in front of residents' homes."

Driving the news: "What's deeply concerning to us is you've got now elected officials in the Republican Party pushing yet another conspiracy theory that's just seeking to divide people based on lies and — let's be honest — based on an element of racism," Kirby said Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

• He continued, saying, "This kind of language, this kind of disinformation, is, is dangerous because there will be people that believe it no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is, and they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt," adding, "It needs to stop."

Catch up quick: The claims, which allege migrants were eating cats and birds, may have been linked to a post in a Springfield Facebook group, the Springfield News-Sun reported.

• The poster claimed their neighbor's daughter's friend had lost her cat and later found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor's home in preparation to be eaten.
• They also alleged "rangers" and "police" had told them ducks and geese had been taken.
• Several social media users also shared body camera footage of an unrelated incident in Canton, Ohio, in which a woman (who public records indicate is not an immigrant) was accused of killing and eating a cat.

Zoom out: Vance, who said he raised the "issue of Haitian illegal immigrants ... causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio" months ago, wrote on X Monday that "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?"

• Elon Musk shared several posts about the rumors to his 197 million X followers, including a seemingly AI-generated picture of a kitten and a duckling, writing "Save them!"
• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also shared a meme online of two cats hugging, overlayed with the text, "PLEASE VOTE FOR TRUMP SO HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS DON'T EAT US."

• A Monday statement from the Trump campaign, titled, "Kamala Migrants Ravage Ohio City — And It's Coming To Your City Next," alleged "20,000 Haitian migrants were dumped in the city."

Friction point: Vance said in a post to X that his office had received "many inquiries" from Springfield residents saying "their neighbors' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants."

• Vance noted in the post that "It's possible" the rumors are false.
• But he encouraged "fellow patriots" not to let the media dissuade the conversation, writing, "Keep the cat memes flowing."

The Trump campaign did not respond to Axios' comment request for this story.

Zoom in: Springfield, which the 2020 Census recorded as having a population of 58,662 people, has seen an influx of migrants arriving in recent years.

• According to the city's website, an estimated 12,000-15,000 immigrants live in Clark County.
• "Haitian immigrants are here legally, under the Immigration Parole Program," the city's FAQ page reads. "Once here, immigrants are then eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)."
• A Monday statement from the Ohio Attorney General's office said Attorney General Dave Yost had directed his office to research ways to "stop the federal government from sending an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities," saying Springfield has "swollen by more than a third due to migrants" (emphasis is Yost's).

Go deeper: Biden urged to expand Haiti migrant protections as violence escalates