U.S. Senator JD Vance’s comments during a September 10 interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have reverberated across the country and the world—mocked with countless online memes as well as elevating real-world danger for the Ohio immigrant community and their neighbors on the receiving end of baseless attacks by Vance and former President Donald Trump.
On Sunday, September 15th, Vance told CNN that he “created” the story and amplified unverified claims about Springfield, repeating the lie that “open borders” are to blame. In fact, Springfield’s immigrants from Haiti are there legally, and their employers are thrilled. “These Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs, and they filled a lot of jobs,” DeWine told CBS News in an interview Wednesday. “And if you talk to employers, they’ve done a very, very good job and they work very, very hard.” Springfield elementary schools, colleges, hospitals and government officials have been subjected to bomb threats following Vance and Trump’s repeated false claims.
In a tweet the morning of the debate and in an interview after, Vance inaccurately blamed Haitian immigrants in Springfield for a “skyrocketing” increase in HIV and TB. Public health officials say there is no evidence that HIV cases are skyrocketing in Springfield. Vance has spent several days spreading fear and disinformation about Springfield, comments amplified by his running mate, former President Donald Trump. During the presidential debate earlier in the evening, Trump responded in an exchange about immigration,” They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.” There is zero evidence of this happening, according to the Springfield city manager and police department.
Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, responded on Twitter/X and Threads to Vance’s attack on immigrants and people living with HIV.
JD Vance’s inflammatory comments about HIV triple down on his truly revolting lies about this community and threaten public health in the most irresponsible way. Vance’s rhetoric is not grounded in science or statistical truth. 🧵(1/4)
— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) September 13, 2024
“JD Vance’s inflammatory comments about HIV triple down on his truly revolting lies about this community and threaten public health in the most irresponsible way,” Ellis said. “Vance’s rhetoric is not grounded in science or statistical truth. It is a racist dog whistle to a bygone era that stigmatized people of color, immigrants, and people living with HIV. Facts still matter. Anyone can have and transmit HIV, but HIV is preventable with antiretroviral medication and treatable to the point of being undetectable, therefore untransmittable, the critical message of U=U. HIV is a fully manageable condition, and people living with HIV can lead long and fulfilling lives. Vance’s desperate disinformation campaign is shamefully spreading baseless, racist lies, fueling the stigma we need to break to end HIV.”
On September 10, NBC News Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor asked Vance to respond to the growing sentiment that his false claims targeting Haitian Americans and Haitian immigrants were “putting their lives at risk.” Quoting Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, Alcindor fact-checked Vance regarding Haitian immigrants eating pets, citing zero evidence to support the outrageous claim.
“The City Manager said there is no verifiable evidence,” Vance said. “A lot of residents on the ground have said that there is. That just means the City Manager, I think, isn’t fully in touch with what’s going on on the ground there.”
A slow moving humanitarian crisis?
In a statement, Bryan Heck, the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, expressed disappointment in the current narrative surrounding Springfield and its Haitian immigrant community:
“It is disappointing that some of the narrative surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged election cycle,” Heck said.
On Friday, September 13, at least four Springfield schools were forced to evacuate after receiving bomb threats, according to Springfield Police and reporting from Spectrum News 1 Ohio. The nature of the threats was undisclosed but arrived on the heels of the September 10 presidential debate.
In an interview with NBC News, Viles Dorsainvil, President of Haitian Community Help and Support Center, told Alcindor, “A friend has called to ask if he should leave [Springfield] because he’s scared for his life.”
“The pet rumor seemingly got started with an unrelated case in a separate part of Ohio where a U.S. Citizen was arrested over a gruesome incident with a cat,” Alcindor noted.
Despite zero evidence to support his claims, Vance continued to triple down on his harmful statements on X, formerly known as Twitter, going as far as to describe the manufactured immigrant eating pets story as a “slow-moving humanitarian crisis.”
Vance’s misinformation continued during an appearance on CNN’s State of The Union on September 15. Host Dana Bash fact-checked Vance’s claims, who then seemed to take credit for infiltrating the news cycle with baseless claims of pet eating in Springfield.
“The American media totally ignored this stuff, ” Vance told Bash. “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.”
“Sorry, you just said that you’re creating the story,” Bash replied. “You just said that this is a story that you created. So, the eating dogs and cats thing is not accurate?”
“I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it,” Vance clarified.
Haitian-American actress Garcelle Beauvais responded to Vance and Trump’s attacks on the Haitian immigrant community in a video posted on Instagram.
“This past week, the lies that have been spewed about the Haitian community, about my community, have been disgusting, deeply hurtful, and dangerous,” Beauvais said.
“Now, this isn’t about politics; it’s about humanity. We must condemn this kind of hatred, this kind of racism for anyone. I have always been a proud Haitian immigrant; coming to America and working hard, that’s what we do—coming from gratitude. And I will not sit by and let people talk about my community in any way they want for their own gain.”