False rumors about a cat being killed and a family from Haiti land in a Facebook group. Now the matter is on everyone’s lips among Republicans.
Washington/Springfield – In the US election campaign, the mood is tense ahead of the TV debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and the defeated US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening (10 September), the positions of the two competing parties hardened. While the Democrats who are speculated to be preparing to provoke Trump into making rash statements in front of the cameras, are focusing republican currently mainly on Harris’ role in the country’s migration policy.
And they are resorting to increasingly unusual tactics: Several US media outlets, including the US broadcaster CNNabout various statements and social media posts by prominent Republicans, such as vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, who have taken up a rumor from a Facebook group and based on it on stirring up prejudices against migrants – specifically from the island state of Haiti.
Facebook rumor in the US election campaign: Vance and Ted Cruz comment
The content of the rumor, which a Facebook user had made public in a group: A neighboring family from Haiti in the city of Springfield in the state of Ohio had stolen the family cat of “a friend of the neighbor’s daughter,” killed it and possibly wanted to cook it. This has now led to memes showing Trump as a rescuer of kittens. An X-account operated by Trump’s campaign team commented: “President Trump will deport migrants who eat pets. Kamala Harris will send them to your city next. It’s your choice, America.”
The vice presidential candidate JD Vance and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have spoken out publicly on the matter. Vance posted CNN a video of an appearance in which he said there were reports that Americans’ pets were being “kidnapped and eaten” by “people who are not supposed to be in this country.” Cruz posted a meme of two kittens hugging and captioned it: “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”
“No specific allegations”: City of Springfield denies Haiti rumor
Loud CNN-Report, several media outlets tried to verify the incident and also asked the city of Springfield. However, according to a spo
kesperson, the city stated that there were “no credible reports or specific allegations” that pets had been harmed in any way. Another recording, taken by a bodycam and supposed to prove the incident, was proven to have come from Canton, Ohio, a city almost 300 kilometers from Springfield.
The fact that the situation is said to have taken place in Springfield of all places may be because the city has been in the headlines for some time now because of the large number of migrants from Haiti and is now being criticized so intensely by many locals that it has set up a portal on its website with questions and answers on the subject of immigration. It emphasizes that the people from Haiti are in the country legally and, as asylum seekers, fall under the “Temporary Protected Status.”
Migration from Haiti: Many reasons for legal protection status in the USA
The fact that a particularly large number of people from Haiti are currently seeking protection in the USA and are being granted this status is due to numerous political developments in the Caribbean statewhich borders the Dominican Republic. Over the past few years, Haiti has not only been the scene of dozens of natural disasters in which thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes. Political problems and the resulting gang crime are also forcing people to flee.
It is to be expected that the migration issue – regardless of the unverifiable rumor from Springfield – will also play a role in the TV debate in Philadelphia, as Trump and the Republicans blame Harris personally for many problems. (saka)
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