"Illegal immigrants in Ohio are eating cats and dogs"

Question

During the Trump and Kamala debate, Trump made a wild claim that "Illegal Immigrants" are eating cats and dogs in Dayton Ohio. After digging into those claims almost every single news source went directly to the scenes in Dayton to discover the truth and as CBS News confirms there have been zero incident reports of anyone, let alone Immigrants eating any animals.

Comments

According to the title "Donald Trump Vs Kamala Harris I 'They're Eating The Dogs' I Yes, He Really Said That I Explained", the readers are able to make assumptions that this source is about Trump making statements that immigrants from Haiti are eating domestic pets. The claims made by Trump are false and we can see this from the article I have found "Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets". This article uses true and factual evidence and we are able to observe this from how its confirmed by BBC verify and BBC News. Additionally, BBC mentions where that claim on Haitian immigrants originated from and why that claim is false. Searching up the Author, Merlyn Thomas and Mike Wendling, I was able to see that the authors are verified BBC journalists and have numerous reliable articles published further proving that this article is true.

Answer 1

In the presidential debate on September 10, 2024 with Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, Trump made a false claim that “In Springfield they’re eating dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” He was referencing the Ohio city of Springfield that is currently dealing with an influx of Haitian immigrants. This claim is completely false and was proven so by the police. An article by CBS news provides evidence that the police actively have denied the accuracy of the claim. The police statement was issued after a video emerged on the internet of supposed African immigrants in Dayton “preparing to grill dead cats.” The statement made by Donald Trump was after the police department in Dayton Ohio had expressed that this was false news. Politician and Republican vice president candidate JD Vance expressed his disapproval of the handling of the situation claiming that president Harris and her media team should be disappointed another “debunked” story that turned out to have merit. However the “debunked” story is not real and Trump and Vance are utilizing misinformation to their advantage. The Ohio woman whose original Facebook post about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield even admitted the claims are not accurate and apologized for sparking the unnecessary rumors. She expresses her regret in an article by the South China Morning Post stating, “It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen.” The article goes on to express that the Ohio woman didn’t actually have any actual firsthand knowledge about her claim when she took to a local Facebook group to post about a missing pet. This goes to show how much misinformation can be taken out of context and believed when combined with political agendas. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-fringe-online-claim-immigrants-eating-pets-debate-trump-rcna170759

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-police-dispute-new-allegations-immigrants-are-eating-pets-in-dayton/

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3278563/ohio-woman-behind-pet-eating-rumours-spread-donald-trump-admits-claims-are-false

Answer 2

This claim is utterly hilarious and ridiculous. Even to the point were the Ohio police had to refute these claims that the former president had made. CBS news made a statement themselves saying that election fact checkers denied the claim as it was false and a blatant lie. Furthermore, the person who organized this claim (Erika Lee) has came out with a statement and proven that it was false. Even when Trump spoke about of immigrants being the ones eating the pets BBC news had come out with a statement explaining why this claim was false.

Answer 3

False; there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim. The fact that someone running for president said this on national television showcases the problem with news today. People in the country without critical thinking will not fact this and will take words at face value. When someone does that they submit to ideologies and contribute to being part of a machine. In this case, Trump's machine.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-police-dispute-new-allegations-immigrants-are-eating-pets-in-dayton/

Answer 4

Absolutely a conspiracy theory, there is no evidence of Haitian immigrant eating pets. Everyone is fact checking this claim and there is no truth to it. Even the police had to make a statement and say that they received no reports of stolen pets or pets that have been consumed by a person. So with all of that being said this claim is false.

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-haitian-immigrants-stealing-eating-pets-ohio-2024-09-10/

https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-police-say-no-reports-of-pets-stolen-after-viral-social-media-post/3WSIZQNHQVE4NP4TS5BVHBB2PY/

Answer 5

This Fact Checks claims states that: Illegal immigrants in Ohio are eating cats and dogs.

The source used in this claim is a YouTube video posted by Mojo Story. In the video it shows former president Donald J. Trump stating “In Springfield they're eating the dogs, the people that came in are eating the cats, they're eating the pets.” in the 2024 Presidential debate that took place on September 10th in Pennsylvania. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AJxhpvWBig 

First it is important to note that yes this claim was stated from Donald Trump and posted through Mojo Story. Donald Trump however must have gotten this information from an unreliable source. This information is false. After further research and analysis of similar sources Boston 25 News released an article regarding this topic clarifying the facts behind these rumors. This is a credible source due to the fact that within the article the news company quotes a message from Karen Grave, Springfields Strategic Engagement Manager who stated the following. 

“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community. Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

—  Karen Graves, Springfield Strategic Engagement Manager

https://www.boston25news.com/news/national/whats-really-happening-springfield-ohio-after-claims-immigrants-are-eating-pets/OTQBGOV2SJE7ZIRMASCNOVDBWE/ 

In conclusion all though this was stated by Donald Trump, the claim is incorrect and has been proved incorrect by many credible news sources. There has been no reports of these issues.

Answer 6

The claim is false and has been repeatedly debunked. An article that I found interesting was an NBC article about the woman who was one of the first to spark the rumor. She had posted on Facebook that a neighbor told her that a neighbor's cat went missing and that they thought the cat was attacked by some Haitian neighbors. She never thought that it would spark national news or spark so much hate. She has since deleted the post and regrets how far it has been taken.

NBC article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-just-exploded-springfield-woman-says-never-meant-spark-rumors-haitian-rcna171099

Answer 7

This is 100% false. Large news networks fact-checked this claim, as well as the ABC News Network during the actual debate itself (I'll link the clip here: https://youtu.be/lHycpIhnFcU?si=noH-JYC07tGNNhru ). BBC argues that this baseless claim comes from an agglomeration of right-wing conspiracy theorists online that has taken storm over the internet and that there are not any dogs, cats, or geese being eaten in the small town of Springfield Ohio. 

Here are some sources regarding this claim:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77l28myezko 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-fringe-online-claim-immigrants-eating-pets-debate-trump-rcna170759

https://www.cato.org/blog/texas-crime-data-haitian-pet-eating-claims

Answer 8

While there have been several stories circulating around regarding immigrants eating peoples’ pets in Ohio, of which some have been further spread by former President Donald Trump and Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance, there are no verifiable claims of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, and such claims have been disproven by local law enforcement authorities: 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/jd-vance-ohio-police-no-reports-haitian-immigrants-harming-pets-rcna170271

Similar allegations that have occurred in the fellow Ohio city of Dayton have also been debunked, according to CBS News:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-police-dispute-new-allegations-immigrants-are-eating-pets-in-dayton/

Answer 9

An extreme claim was recently made by Donald J Trump that dogs and cats were being eaten in Dayton Ohio. He believed that immigrants from Haiti had been eating domestic animals. Several news sources went to look into this bogus claim such as CBS and BBC and disproved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AJxhpvWBig&ab_channel=MojoStory

Answer 10

The claim that immigrants in Ohio are eating cats and dogs is false. In a CBS news article, the Dayton, Ohio police state that there is no evidence that immigrants - or any group for that matter- are eating pets. This statement coming directly from the police in Ohio proves credibility that this claim is false. In the debate where Trump repeats this claim, the fact checkers specifically say that they (ABC news) reached out to the city manager in Springfield, Ohio and they said "There have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community." Since there has been repeated comments by city and police officials that there is no evidence and has been no reports of immigrants eating pets, it is clear that this claim is false, since there is no evidence to back it up.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/rump-supporter-underwhelmed-by-recent-debate-performance-219225157663

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-police-dispute-new-allegations-immigrants-are-eating-pets-in-dayton/