Why did Trump say immigrants were eating pet cats in the US?

Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris said: “…When we listen to this kind of rhetoric… When the issues that affect the American public are not being addressed, then the choice is clear this election.”

So what happened in Springfield, Ohio?

In a video of an August 27 Springfield city commission meeting, a local resident was seen speaking of immigrants “grabbing ducks from the park” and “eating them”.

Separately, on a Facebook group on crime in Springfield, a claim was made that Haitian immigrants had killed a cat, BBC Verify, the BBC‘s fact-checking unit, found.

There were also reports about a woman being arrested for killing and eating a cat in Canton, Ohio, about 175 miles northeast of Springfield.

How did these reported incidents become a campaign issue?

The separate claims were strung together by some Republicans into an unsubstantiated narrative that the growing numbers of Haitian immigrants in Springfield — estimated to have reached about 20,000 in recent years — were eating people’s pets.

On September 9, the House Judiciary GOP handle, which is the Republican party’s House Committee on the Judiciary, posted an AI-generated image of Trump hugging a duck and a cat on X, captioning it: “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!”

Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio! pic.twitter.com/YnTZStPnsg

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 9, 2024

X owner Elon Musk, who is backing Trump, and Trump’s running mate J D Vance, who is a Senator from Ohio, posted the video of the Springfield city commission’s meeting on their handles.

pic.twitter.com/NYfZn8gZFb

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 10, 2024

Vance said the video was an “extraordinary testimonial of how illegal immigration affects the lives of American citizens”. In a separate tweet, he claimed that “in the last several weeks”, his “office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants”.

“It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” Vance went on to say — but added that it was “confirmed” that an illegal Haitian migrant had murdered a child, that the wave of immigrants had “overwhelmed” local health services, that communicable diseases like TB and HIV were “on the rise”, and that local schools have “struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English”.

In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.

Do you know…

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 10, 2024

Trump supporters and right-wing activists have amplified the narrative.

On September 11, activist Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative organisation Turning Point, posted a video of residents of Springfield talking about the issue, captioning it: “EVERYONE they spoke to has heard stories of people’s pets being eaten as well as ducks and geese disappearing. Residents describe it as a “tinderbox” and a “time bomb” ready to go off.”

On September 10, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, posted a picture of Trump, holding an assault rifle and riding a large cat, captioned: “Save our pets!!!!!”

Save our pets!!!!! pic.twitter.com/lWkOnkxscv

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 10, 2024

What is Donald Trump’s stand on immigration?

The narrative about violent and depraved illegal migrants feeds into Trump’s (and Vance’s) signature opposition to immigration across the southern border of the US. Trump’s flagship election promise in 2015 was to build a wall along the US border with Mexico, and he has, during the current campaign, repeatedly painted dark pictures of waves of migrants bringing crime and disease to the country.

In September 2023, Trump promised at the Republican National Convention to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if elected again. The Republican Party platform said: “We must secure our Southern Border by completing the Border Wall (the US-Mexico barrier) that President Trump started.”

The platform has promised to “Stop Illegal Immigration” by “securing the border, deporting illegal aliens” and “reverse the Democrats’ Open Borders Policies that have driven up the cost of Housing, Education, and Healthcare for American families”.

The Trump campaign has repeatedly tried to tie Kamala Harris to the illegal immigration, and Trump and Vance have been calling Harris a “border tsar”. A Trump campaign ad has claimed Harris was responsible for 10 million illegal border crossings and 250,000 fentanyl-related overdose deaths.

And what does Harris have to say on the issue?

Early in his presidential term, faced with a growing crisis on America’s southern border, President Joe Biden appointed Harris to work with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, from where a large number of migrants come to the US, and tackle the “root causes” of the influx.

Harris has worked on immigration issues closely, which makes her a specific target of Trump’s and Vance’s attacks.

In her campaign, Harris has been speaking of backing a lapsed bipartisan border security Bill, which looks to strengthen border security by shutting the border if a certain threshold of immigrants is crossed, and tightening asylum conditions, among other things.

Trump was against the Bill — and Kamala accused him of obstructing its passage in Wednesday’s debate — which he said is a “great gift to the Democrats, and a death wish for the Republican party”.