The city of Springfield, Ohio, has been rocked by reports that illegal immigrants in the community are stealing and eating residents’ pets.
The unusual story has been perpetuated by Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
And while Vance said during two campaign stops in the Midwest on Tuesday that there are at least dozens of people who shared their stories with his office, his campaign has specifically pointed to a police report that The Wall Street Journal now says it has been denied.
Anna Kilgore told police she thought her Haitian neighbors had stolen her cat, Miss Sassy.
When reached by the Journal, Kilgnore was wearing a Trump-Vance hat and said her missing cat turned up a few days after she filed the complaint. The resident said she used a translation app to apologize to her neighbors for accusing them.
ALIVE AND WELL: Miss Sassy is the cat at the centre of an Ohio woman’s complaint that her Haitian neighbours stole her pet. But it has now been revealed that the kitten turned up just days after her owner, Anna Kilgore, filed a complaint with police.
Kilgore wrote on Facebook on August 27: ‘My cat is missing.’
“She is mane (sic) coon, her name is miss sassy pants,” he continued. “She is part of the family, please if you have seen her or know where she is, I will give you money and bring her home alive please.”
The news cycle has now been dominated by Republican outrage over the alleged consumption of cats and ducks by illegal immigrants, while Democrats are furious over “hateful rhetoric” they say is racist toward some immigrants coming from countries where animals considered pets in the U.S. might otherwise be on the menu.
Vance is focusing on the widespread frustration of residents of the Ohio city that has been inundated with illegal immigrants in recent years.
‘Senator Vance has received countless messages from Springfield residents about the disastrous effects Kamala Harris’ immigration policies have created for their hometown: a shortage of affordable housing, stressed public resources, declining public safety and spikes in communicable diseases,’ a spokesperson for Vance told DailyMail.com.
“It is shameful that the media ignores these real concerns while deliberately distorting Senator Vance’s words,” they added.
Discussing the issue on Tuesday, Vance repeatedly said the claims are based on reports and said it was the media’s job to verify whether the rumors are true or not, while his job as a senator is to believe his constituents and their complaints.
Senator JD Vance has faced backlash from Democrats who claim he is engaging in “hateful rhetoric” by repeating claims by Ohio residents who say immigrants are stealing and eating pets.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Vance said the American media is “creating” the scandal and causing people to focus on it more than they otherwise would.
What Vance says is the biggest problem is not the pet food story, but the fact that Springfield has problems stemming from the influx of immigrants.
During a Senate hearing in July, Vance grilled Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about the role immigration plays in worsening housing and job markets.
At the time, he cited a letter from the city of Springfield that said, “Springfield has experienced an increase in population due to immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce sufficient housing opportunities for all.”
“Springfield’s Haitian population has grown by 15,000 to 20,000 over the past four years in a community of fewer than 60,000 previous residents, placing significant pressure on our resources and our ability to provide sufficient housing for all of our residents,” he added.
