Police in Springfield, Ohio, say there is no evidence to support a claim, advanced by the Trump campaign, that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating residents’ pets. 

On Monday, the Trump campaign cited the rumor in an email to reporters, and vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, posted about it on social media. 

“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, formerly Twitter. “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 had been viewed nearly 10 million times by early Tuesday afternoon. Vance’s remark about “our border czar” was a criticism directed at Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, whom President Joe Biden assigned to address the root causes of migration from Central America. Many Republicans have falsely claimed Biden placed her in charge of security at the southwest border.

In a statement to Spectrum News on Tuesday, the Springfield Police Division said “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

Police also sought to dispel other claims about Haitian migrants in the city.

”Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes,” the statement said. “Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

The Trump campaign’s email also included a story about a family being driven from their home by Haitian migrants squatting on their property.

It’s unclear where the rumor about the pets originated, but the Springfield News-Sun reported that a post in a Springfield Facebook group went viral nationally in recent days. 

The Trump campaign’s email linked to a X post showing a screen capture of someone claiming their neighbor’s cat went missing, only to be seen later hanging from a tree branch “like you’d do a deer for butchering & they were carving it up to eat.” The house, the poster added, was “where Haitians live.” The poster claimed they had also heard of Haitians “doing this to dogs” and to ducks and geese at a local park.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and Tesla, SpaceX and X owner Elon Musk, who is in line for a role in a second Trump administration if Trump wins November's presidential election, also referenced the rumor in social media posts.

Cruz’s post showed a meme of two kittens with the words “PLEASE VOTE FOR TRUMP SO HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS DON’T EAT US.”

Asked about the baseless claims Tuesday, White House spokesman John Kirby called them “dangerous.”

“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 based on an element of racism,” he said. “I think all Americans should expect more and better from the people that they're electing.

“This kind of disinformation 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. So it needs to stop.”

Springfield, located about 50 miles west of Columbus, has a population of around 58,000 people. A page on the city’s website notes that it has seen a surge in population in recent years, primarily due to an influx of legal immigrants choosing to live there. It says Haitian immigrants are there legally under the Immigration Parole Program. Haitians are eligible to apply for Temporary Protected Status, a designation given by the Department of Homeland Security.