GOP Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance In Interview With CNN repeated claims of Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents of Springfield, Ohio, FOCUS reported.
Tim Waltz, Kamala Harris's running mate, spoke alongside President Joe Biden at an event in Washington last night (September 14), warning that a second Trump term posed a "deep threat" for the future of the nation.
GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance on Sunday repeated claims of Haitian immigrants eating the pets of Springfield, Ohio residents.
When asked to back up his claims, Vance indicated he said he knew this from firsthand accounts from constituents who told him this was happening, though he provided no evidence.
"The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. "If I have to make stories so that the American media can actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do," Vance said.
Show host Dana Bash commented: "You just said this is a story you made up"
Vance replies "It comes from first-hand accounts from my constituents. I say we create history, which means we create tools and get the media to focus on them. I didn't create the 20,000 illegal immigrants coming to Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris' policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris' policies.
The city of Springfield notes on its website that there are approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in Clark County and that the Haitian immigrants are there legally as part of the Early Termination Program, which allows citizens and legal residents to apply , so that their Haitian family members can come to the United States.
Local authorities at the city and state level have repeatedly attempted to quash rumors of immigrants eating pets. Representatives of Springfield have stated to the press and at city commission meetings that there are no credible reports of animal abuse by immigrants in the area.
Earlier in the week, Vance said the false claim may not be true, but encouraged his followers to continue posting "cat memes".
Springfield Mayor Rob Roux said Thursday that the allegations are "harming our citizens and our community," adding that it is "disappointing" that some of the rhetoric is coming from Vance.