Vance pushes debunked pet-eating claims yet again
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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) speaks with media at the airport before he departs on Sept. 14 in Greenville, North Carolina. Photo: Allison Joyce/Getty Images
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) tripled down on debunked rumors that immigrants in Ohio are eating cats in an interview airing Sunday on "Meet the Press," contending "constituents are seeing it with their own eyes."
The big picture: The GOP ticket has latched onto unfounded rumors that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating family pets — rumors that have led to several security threats in the small town.
- Local officials have said there are no credible reports of migrants eating pets.
- Yet when former President Trump took to the debate stage Tuesday, he claimed immigrants in Springfield were "eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats."
- Vance, addressing the conspiracy, acknowledged on X ahead of the debate that the rumors could "turn out to be false" — but encouraged supporters to "keep the cat memes flowing."
Driving the news: "I'm not repeating [the rumors] because I invented them out of thin air. I'm repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening," Vance told NBC "Meet The Press" moderator Kristen Welker in Sunday's interview, referencing a video "of a migrant 30 miles away eating a cat."
- The video he is seemingly highlighting was one he shared on X Saturday.
- The footage and accompanying article allege that African immigrants in Dayton, Ohio, were grilling cats.
- But Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal said in a statement there is "no evidence to even remotely suggest that any group, including our immigrant community, is engaged in eating pets."
Reality check: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said on ABC's "This Week" that there is "absolutely" no evidence Haitian immigrants are eating cats, saying the conversation "needs to stop" as "hate groups" are coming to the town.
- "The Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move and Springfield has really made a great resurgence," he said, adding the Haitian immigrants who have moved to the town are "very good workers."
- He characterized the rumors as "a piece of garbage that was simply not true," saying Haitian immigrants are "positive influences" on the community.
Zoom out: Vance said he had heard the rumors "firsthand from multiple constituents" who had "made 911 calls a month ago, a year ago."
- He added: "I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what has happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the internet."
The bottom line: Multiple buildings in Springfield have been evacuated because of threats identified by law enforcement — threats Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told the New York Times were a "hateful response to immigration in our town."
- Police at Wittenberg University, a liberal arts college in Springfield, said in a campus alert that an email sent Saturday threatened a shooting the following day.
- The threat, which prompted campus event cancellations, targeted Haitians, the alert said.
- On Friday, Trump pledged to conduct the "largest deportation in the history of our country," starting in Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado, another city that has been pulled into the national immigration debate as overstated claims migrants are taking over apartment complexes there spread rapidly online.
Go deeper: Anatomy of a Trump conspiracy theory
