JD Vance Confronted on Putting Constituents ‘at Risk’ With Haitian Claims

In a Sunday morning interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Ohio Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, was confronted about putting his constituents “at risk” due to his claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets.
Amid the 2024 presidential election where immigration is a hot topic issue, city officials in Springfield, Ohio, have consistently debunked these rumors, but the claims gained even more prominence when Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, repeated them during the televised presidential debate on Tuesday night against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said in Philadelphia during the debate. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
Far from just an online storm, it is affecting real life too. Springfield’s city hall had to be evacuated on Thursday morning after a bomb threat, which officials said included “hateful language toward immigrants and Haitians in our community,” was sent to it, along with the Clark County courthouse and two elementary schools.
In addition, there was an emailed threat regarding a potential shooting on campus at Wittenberg University, a private liberal arts college in the city, leading to school evacuations and the canceling of planned events.
In a contentious, 17-minute interview on the topic, CNN host Dana Bash pressed Vance on Sunday about those claims, along with Trump’s mention about the conspiracy theory on the debate stage.
Bash noted on several occasions that she wasn’t, personally, accusing Vance of putting Haitian immigrants “at risk.” However, she said she was quoting the city’s mayor, Rob Rue.
“All of these federal politicians who have negatively spun our city need to know they’re hurting our city, and it was their words that did it,” Rue told local news station WSYX on Thursday.
Bash began the lengthy interview with this question:
“Before Donald Trump talked about eating dogs and cats on a debate stage, it was you senator who first elevated this baseless rumor. These are your constituents, so why are you putting them at risk by continuing to spread claims about Haitian immigrants, despite officials in your state saying there is no evidence and pleading for them to stop?”
At one point, Vance called what Bash said “disgusting” regarding his claims that she was accusing him of putting the community at risk and inciting violence. He also reiterated to Bash that he had heard about the concerns about Haitian immigrants “firsthand” from his Ohio constituents.
After half a century of economic decline, Springfield worked hard to lure back the manufacturing industry. The plan worked and began creating jobs that ended up attracting immigrants. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Haitian migrants have moved to the city, which had a population of just under 60,000 in 2020, over the space of four years, city officials say.
They are in the country legally, the City of Springfield’s Immigration FAQ page says, many under the Immigration Parole Program, which, under certain conditions, allows noncitizens to remain in the U.S. temporarily without meeting standard visa or immigration requirements.
Vance took aim at the policy during his interview with Bash, saying, “We can condemn the violence on the one hand but also talk about the terrible consequences of Kamala Harris’ open border on the other hand.”
The senator continued: “You just accused me of inciting violence against the community when all that I’ve done is surface the complaints of my constituents, people who are suffering because of Kamala Harris’ policies. Are we not allowed to talk about these problems because some psychopaths are threatening violence? That is when Kamala Harris waved a magic amnesty wand, taking people and giving them legal status. That is not to say that they’re here legally.”
Despite claims made by Republicans that President Joe Biden made Harris the “border czar,” she never officially held that title. Biden had given Harris the task of coordinating diplomatic relationships in the hopes of improving conditions in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that would, in theory, encourage would-be migrants to stay put.
Bash responded to Vance on Sunday: “There are policy disagreements all the time, but the fact is that it is the law. You were the one who brought this up. The [former] president said it to 60 million people.”
Vance also said he hasn’t actually been to Springfield to investigate the rumors against the Haitian immigrant community.
Later in the interview, Vance seemed to claim that he and Trump have to “create stories” about migrants eating cats and dogs “so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”
Bash asked him, “Once and for all, can you affirmatively say that the rumors about Haitians eating dogs and cats have no basis with evidence?”
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance responded.
Newsweek emailed Vance’s Senate office, along with the Trump campaign, on Sunday morning for comment.
A Springfield resident by the name of Erika Lee made a Facebook post alleging that local Haitian immigrants were “eating pets,” which led to significant national attention on the small city. Her post detailed the disappearance of a neighbor’s cat and included her neighbor’s suspicions that their Haitian residents were involved in the incident.
She admits that she had no direct evidence supporting such a claim and that the incident has left her ridden with guilt and anxiety due to the controversy it generated.
“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Lee told NBC News on Friday.
Vance also appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday when he was asked by host Kristen Welker about his “baseless” claims that Haitian immigrants are eating pets.
The Ohio senator responded, “Kristen, I hear you saying that they’re baseless, but I’m not repeating them because I invented them out of thin air. I’m repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening.”
Update: 9/15/24, 11:16 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.
Update: 9/15/24, 11:28 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.