The sequence is one of the most surreal of the televised debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on September 10. Under the hilarious gaze of his opponent, the Republican candidate says, regarding migrants: “In Springfield they eat dogs, they eat cats, they eat the pets of the people who live there. This is what is happening in our country and it is a disgrace.”
Journalist and debate co-host David Muir immediately corrects: according to city officials, there is no “There is no credible information” confirming Trump’s claims.
In the United States, the rumour has been stirring up far-right circles for several days. Prominent pro-Trump activists, such as Elon Musk, have even made it a campaign element, presenting Donald Trump as a defender of animals in the face of a refugee community portrayed as barbaric and threatening.
How did Trumpist circles arrive at such extreme accusations, with such xenophobic subtext? The world He tried to reconstruct the emergence of the rumor.
2014-2023: a desired migration context
- 2014 – Springfield calls for foreign labor
In the midst of Barack Obama’s second term, the city of Springfield (Ohio) is participating in the “Welcoming America” campaign. Its aim is to attract foreign workers to medium-sized cities affected by deindustrialisation and demographic decline. This is the case of Springfield, which went from 83,000 inhabitants in 1960 to 60,000 in 2010, a symbol of dismantled towns.
- July 7, 2021 – Assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is plunged into chaos following the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse. Several tens of thousands of Haitians are fleeing Port-au-Prince. Some are leaving the country to seek refuge in Brazil, Chile or the United States.
- January 5, 2023 – Biden grants additional residency permits to Haitians
While under attack for his handling of the migration crisis and the number of illegal border crossings with Mexico, Joe Biden is issuing new residency permits to 30,000 more people a month from four countries in crisis, including Haiti.
- 2023-2024 – An influx of Haitians revitalizes Springfield
Springfield’s population is increasing again thanks to the many new Haitian residents. According to sources, their number ranges from 4,000 to 20,000. The city has a total population of 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants, of all origins combined, with legal status.
These new arrivals work in factories that assemble cars, package food and distribute mail, and have helped revitalize the city, the newspaper reports. New York TimesBut school and hospital infrastructure is insufficient to cope with this increase in population.
- August 22, 2023 – A Haitian man causes a fatal accident on a school bus
A school bus overturns in Ohio, killing a child and injuring 13 others, after being hit by a minivan. The driver, a legal immigrant of Haitian origin, will be sentenced to nine years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and lack of a driver’s license (issued in Mexico, his was not valid in Ohio). Far-right media point to this call “illegal alien, released into the United States in 2022”which has become the symbol of Joe Biden’s lax policy.
Summer 2024: News and rumors shake Ohio, a state scrutinized by the American far right
- June 28: Joe Biden grants protected status to Haitian refugees
Joe Biden, then still a candidate for re-election, granted 300,000 Haitians already present on American soil the temporary protection statusa temporary protection status reserved for refugees from a country in crisis or danger.
- July 10: Trump’s camp takes over Springfield case
As Trump’s campaign staff took up the issues of inflation and immigration to attack Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris, Springfield became a target of the election campaign. During a meeting, JD Vance, his running mate, described the town as “submerged”. The far-right site Breitbart, founded by former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon, a leading theorist of the use of disinformation on a large scale, accuses Biden of deliberately “awash” Springfield of Haitian immigrants.
- August 8 – In Columbus, a black man walks with a goose in his hand.
On Reddit, an English-language forum with a variety of topics, an Internet user shared on the page of the city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio, fifty kilometres from Springfield, a photo of a black man crossing the street holding a lifeless goose – a protected animal. The bird, whose hunting season in the State is limited to one week in September. The context of the photo is unknown, as is the identity of the person.
- August 16 – In Canton, a black woman arrested for eating a cat.
In a sordid news story, Allexis Telia Ferrell, a 27-year-old woman, is arrested on the other side of the Ohio, in the town of Canton, for having killed and eaten a domestic cat. According to the American verification site Snopes, Mme Telia Ferrel has a long criminal record and is not Haitian, Guangzhou police told Reuters.
- August 27: A YouTuber talks about Haitians eating ducks.
During a stormy town hall meeting, residents complain about immigrants of Haitian origin. One of them, Anthony Harris, a small local influencer specialising in street pranks, accuses them of multiple misdeeds. “They are in the park, grabbing ducks by the neck, cutting off their heads and eating them”He claims to have filmed these incivilities, but The world has not found any videos on the subject on his YouTube, TikTok or X pages, where he is content to spread rumors.
- Early September: A rumor about murdered cats appears in a private Facebook group
A screenshot of a message posted in a private Facebook group, “Springfield Ohio Crime & Information,” begins circulating on social media. “Let’s take care of all our beloved pets and those around us”we can read there. Quoting the “girl’s friend” From a neighbor, the man who originated the message mentions a missing cat that had been seen in front of a house inhabited by Haitians. “hung from a branch, as one would do with a deer for the slaughter, and cut up to eat.” The text mentions that dogs, ducks and geese are also hunted. The municipal authorities repeatedly deny these accusations.
September 2024: Trump presents himself as a protector of domestic animals
- September 6 – The American far right exploits the rumors
End Wokeness, a pro-Trump narrative, claims that in Springfield, since the Haitian population skyrocketed, “Ducks and domestic animals are disappearing”. In illustration: the photo taken in Colón and the message from the Facebook group. It is the first time that the rumors and news of the summer come together in a single story.
- September 8: JD Vance revives the rumor of devoured pets
Far-right influencer Ian Miles Cheong shares M in X videome Telia Ferrel, the woman arrested for killing and eating a cat. “ [Est-elle] on drugs? »asks an Internet user. ” Worse. Haitians »answers, which is always incorrect.
In X, Vance recalls that he has been warning for months about “The problem of undocumented Haitian immigrants” and mentions the “testimonies” reporting kidnapped and devoured animals. “Where is our border tsar?”question, using the derogatory nickname Trump gave to Kamala Harris.
- September 9 – A shower of images produced by artificial intelligence
Donald Trump’s supporters are creating astonishing artificial images where the Republican candidate appears as the protector of animals from the Haitian threat, sometimes riding a giant cat, sometimes protectively carrying kittens or ducklings.
- September 10: Donald Trump makes him part of a televised debate.
The former president revived the rumour in the middle of the debate, adding new false information, particularly grotesque and infamous, to his already very long list of falsifications.
