After Springfield, Ohio, was catapulted into the national spotlight thanks to a web of lies spun by Trump and his ride-or-die running mate, Senator JD Vance, Vance said that the damaging allegations about Haitian migrants eating pets are stories he’s willing to “create” because some mystery “constituents” swear it’s true.
Source: MATTHEW HATCHER / Getty
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
As previously reported, Trump told the nation that Haitian migrants in Springfield were nibbling on domestic animals like it was a side hustle.
Now, the Proud Boys (aka the modern KKK) are marching, and schools are getting shut down from Springfield receiving bomb threats. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
But wait, Trump and Vance actually did.
The Goose (And Truth) Is Cooked
The eating/killing rhetoric first started when a Facebook post showed a man casually strolling down the street holding a dead goose, with a caption claiming that Haitians in Springfield were snatching pets and wildlife left and right. The problem is, that the photo wasn’t even from Springfield. In fact, it was snapped 50 miles away in Columbus, Ohio, back in July.
According to USA Today, the man was just walking down Cleveland Avenue with his poultry prize, not bothering anyone, much less decapitating ducks.
The man who posted the picture on Reddit apparently wasn’t trying to stir the pot and the Columbus Dispatch said the man’s reasoning for sharing the photo was because it wasn’t “something you see every day.” Well, he got that right!
Unfortunately, what he didn’t expect was for the picture to be hijacked and weaponized by anti-immigrant conspiracy theorists. Now, USA Today reports that he’s out here regretting his whole life, watching his innocent post get twisted to fit a racist narrative.
Despite no evidence of dead geese piling up on Springfield streets, the internet did what it does best: amplify misinformation faster than you can say “fact check.” Newsweek reports that the claim quickly went viral, and critics pointed out that the lie was about more than just pets. It was about creating a racist, fear-mongering narrative around Haitian immigrants—and let’s be real, Black people in general.
Whether Haitian or not, Black people everywhere became the target of these hateful rumors, all thanks to Vance and Trump’s reckless rhetoric.
Vance Swears He’s “Protecting” Americans (But From What Exactly?)
Now, here’s where things get even more ridiculous. JD Vance, ever eager to play wingman to Trump’s immigrant scapegoating, jumped in on the act. In post-debate commentary, he neglected to divert against Trump’s false narrative. He took the stage during his Senate campaign to make it clear that, in his view, Haitian migrants were illegal, even if they came to the U.S. legally through the Immigration Parole Program.
USA Today reports that he argued that by letting them in, the government was “abusing asylum laws” and putting American citizens at risk. His solution? Ship them out of here in record numbers and “protect” Americans.
But protect them from what exactly? Imaginary Haitian-led pet-eating sprees?
Vance and Trump’s xenophobic fear-mongering not only stokes fear, but also distracts from the very real issues Springfield faces as a city with a growing immigrant population.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Springfield, which has seen a surge of Haitian immigrants in recent years, is already grappling with challenges like housing, healthcare, and job integration. But none of that has anything to do with Haitians eating people’s pets. Instead, it has everything to do with decades of economic struggles in the city, a lack of proper resources, and insufficient infrastructure to support its growing population.
Springfield officials have consistently debunked these ridiculous claims. USA Today states that City Manager Bryan Heck publicly stated that there were no “credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
ABC moderators of the debate were quick to fact check the lie, yet Trump continues to spew out #fakenews. The whole thing is just absurd.
Haitian Immigrants in the Crosshairs, A Racist Agenda
Let’s be real here. This isn’t about geese, cats or dogs. It’s about playing into a racist narrative that Haitians, and by extension, all Black immigrants, are dangerous. It’s about Vance and Trump stirring up the kind of paranoia that makes average Americans think they need to “protect” themselves from a Black boogeyman.
Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty
Critics have pointed out that this type of rhetoric doesn’t just hurt Haitian immigrants; it puts a target on the back of every Black person in America. Whether you’re Haitian, African American, or Black from any other background, when politicians peddle these types of lies, you become collateral damage.
USA Today reports that Sasha Rittenhouse, a Clark County commissioner, said it best during a city council meeting:
“No videos have surfaced, no pictures have surfaced, no dead geese have surfaced; there’s nothing to substantiate that it’s happening.”
Yet, here we are, with fear being spread across the country, all in the name of political points.
Meanwhile, Trump has promised the “largest deportation in history,” starting in—you guessed it—Springfield, because what better way to show your love for America than by kicking out law-abiding, hard-working immigrants who fled their home countries to escape violence?
Just to spice things up, he threw in a Venezuelan gang takeover in Colorado, for good measure. No word yet on whether the gang is also accused of cooking geese.
On Sunday’s episode of CNN’s State of the Union, JD Vance had a tense exchange with CNN’s Dana Bash who asked him to show the receipts of migrants “eating cats and dogs,” and Vance doubled down, saying he had firsthand accounts from constituents who told him this is happening, though he didn’t provide a single shred of evidence.
“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” said Vance. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the Ohio senator said.
When asked about him calling it a “story that he created,” a defensive Vance snapped;
“It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into 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. Yes, we created the actual focus.”
Final Thoughts, Decapitating Lies
In the end, Trump and Vance’s campaign of misinformation is nothing more than a scare tactic that puts immigrants, Black people, and truth itself in the crosshairs. These lies do nothing to “protect” Americans; they only serve to divide us and fan the flames of hatred.
Next time you hear about Haitian immigrants decapitating ducks, just remember: the real beheading here is of the truth. They think we’re stupid…