A nonprofit that advocates for Haitian immigrants has filed criminal charges in Ohio over comments by former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance that illegal immigrants are eating people’s pets.
Both Republican candidates have fanned the flames of the debunked rumor since Vance posted about it on social media. Trump then picked up on the topic in his own posts and spread the idea to millions of people during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats of the people who come here. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there,” he said this month.
Guerline Jozef of the Haitian Bridge Alliance filed the suit. An Ohio law allows anyone “who has knowledge of the facts and seeks to bring about an arrest or prosecution” to file a complaint alleging a crime with a court clerk.
The suit alleges that by spreading false claims, the candidates provoked harassment from community members, including a contingent of Haitians who moved to Springfield to take factory jobs.
“Their persistence and inflexibility, even when the governor and mayor say this is false, demonstrates intent,” said attorney Subodh Chandra of the Cleveland-based Chandra Law Firm.
“It’s a deliberate and willful violation of criminal law,” he added, according to AP. He added that the group had filed as private citizens due to the inaction of local prosecutors.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded that “President Trump is rightly highlighting the broken immigration system that (Vice President) Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants into communities like Springfield and many others across the country.”
The nonprofit organization accuses Republican candidates of false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated threats and violating a ban against collusion, according to the local government. ABC 6 Affiliate reported.
A nonprofit has filed a lawsuit in Ohio against Donald Trump and JD Vance for “debunking” false claims about immigrants in the Ohio city eating people’s pets.
City officials are tasked with reviewing the complaint to see if it meets the criteria for probable cause. Local officials have never substantiated allegations of pet ingestion, and many of the Haitians in Springfield and the country are here under Temporary Protected Status.
Vance is Ohio’s junior senator. Gov. Mike DeWine defended immigrants who came to his hometown in an op-ed in the newspaper The New York Timesand called them “there to work.” He also criticized the city for becoming an “epicenter of vitriol” and pointed to false bomb threats that caused schools to close, in an article in which he did not criticize Trump and Vance for spreading the rumor.
Trump has continued to make the same claims since the debate and over the weekend said he would visit Springfield.
Supporters have used AI images and memes to portray Trump as a savior of animals.
JL Partners surveyed 1,000 likely voters to find out their opinion on false claims that Haitians were eating their pets. The results have a margin of error of 3 percent.
It’s unclear if or when that will happen. Trump has announced plans this weekend to visit Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, which means “dog meadow” in French.
He mentioned the city again during his remarks in Savannah on Tuesday.
Vance helped amplify the rumor with a statement on September 9. Post on X In her article, she wrote: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos throughout Springfield, Ohio. Reports show that people have seen their pets kidnapped and eaten by people who should not be in this country. Where is our border czar?”
He continued to promote the rumor on NBC’s Meet the Press when he said, “I’m not repeating (the rumors) because I made them up out of thin air. I’m repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening.” He also posted that the rumors “turned out to be false.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Bridge Alliance about the lawsuit.