In early September 2024, a series of claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, went viral. Most significant among these claims were the assertions that a Haitian immigrant had eaten someone's pet cat, and that others had been seen eating swans and ducks in public parks.
In a Sept. 8, 2024, post on X, GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance repeated the allegation:
These claims have been elevated by a series of right-wing influencers including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, and Charlie Kirk, and politicians including U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan.
In response to the headlines, the GOP House Judiciary Subcommittee — chaired by Jordan — posted a meme containing an AI-generated image of Trump hugging a duck and a cat on the subcommittee's official X account:
These charges had no basis in fact — they were unsourced internet rumors. Here, Snopes explains the controversy:
Background
Since 2020, Springfield, Ohio, has seen a dramatic rise in immigrants from Haiti. City officials estimate, according to The New York Times, that as many as 20,000 Haitians had arrived in the small town in 2024 since the onset of the pandemic.
Thanks to the availability of jobs, Springfield became a hot spot for Haitian immigrants around that time, according to reporting in NPR. According to The New York Times, the arrival of several manufacturing plants or corporations between 2017 and 2020 created a surplus of jobs. A lack of local labor created a deficit of workers, and word spread among the Haitian community that work could be found in the town, per the Times:
Soon there were not enough workers. Many young, working-age people [from Springfield] had descended into addiction. Others shunned entry-level, rote work altogether, employers said. Haitians who heard that the Springfield area boasted well-paying, blue-collar jobs and a low cost of living poured in, and employers were eager to hire and train the new work force.
Haitian immigration to the United States, in general, can be tied to several factors largely connected to a rise in gang violence and the collapse of an effective government authority to counter that violence in Haiti. In July 2021, Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated,
Since 2011, Haitian citizens residing in the United States have qualified for what immigration officials refer to as Temporary Protected Status. This designation allows qualified Haitians to remain in the United States and obtain employment authorizations. On July 1, 2024, the Biden Administration renewed this status until at least February 2026.
Because of this fact, it is broadly untrue that these Haitian immigrants are "illegal aliens" as Vance and others have alleged. Due to their Temporary Protected Status, their presence and employment in the country is generally legal. In general, Haitians sought out Springfield, via word of mouth, due to the perceived availability of jobs in the region, not because Biden "sent them there."
Their presence reached a flashpoint in 2023, when a Haitian immigrant driver hit a school bus and killed an 11-year-old child and injured several others. In May 2024, the city requested federal funds to help it deal with the influx of Haitian immigrants.
In September, when Vance tweeted the above meme referencing murdered pets, he shared a video of himself raising the issue of federal funding for Springfield that arose during a May 2024 congressional hearing.
Cats, Ducks and Geese?
As reported by the Springfield News-Sun, the claim that a Haitian immigrant ate a pet cat stems from a rumor posted to a Springfield Facebook group:
A social media post originally from a Springfield Facebook group went viral nationally in recent days. The original poster did not cite first-hand knowledge of an incident. Instead they claimed that their neighbor's daughter's friend had lost her cat and found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor's home being carved up to be eaten.
That Facebook post was shared on several social media platforms, and gained virality when it was shared by the X account End Wokeness on Sep. 6, 2024:
The Facebook post originating the claim presented unverified third-hand Facebook information as fact. Further, it falsely claimed local law enforcement was aware of a problem involving Haitians butchering local pets or waterfowl.
In fact, according to the News-Sun, the Springfield Police Department had not received any reports related either to the killing of a cat or the butchering of ducks and geese at the time of this reporting. Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said claims that geese or ducks from parks were being killed and eaten in the town were unsubstantiated.
False Evidence
In defense of the claim that Haitian immigrants were eating cats, some on X shared a video of purported bodycam footage of police arresting a Haitian immigrant in Springfield, Ohio eating a cat.
This video does not support claims about Haitians in any way. In reality, the video depicts a real incident involving the arrest of an American citizen (not a Haitian immigrant) in Canton (not Springfield), Ohio. The video concerns an Aug. 16, 2024, incident involving a woman named Alexis Telia Ferrell, who was accused of murdering and eating a cat.
There is no evidence that Ferrell is Haitian, and no reports filed at the time of her arrest mentioned anything about Haiti. According to court records viewed by Snopes, Ferrell has an extensive criminal record involving numerous arrests, but none of these charges involved any immigration-related violation.
Another piece of purported evidence for the claim of widespread Haitian goose-killing in Springfield concerned a single image of a Black man carrying a dead Canada goose:
Like the bodycam footage used as evidence for Haitian cat killing, however, this image does not come from Springfield. The photo can be found in a Reddit thread about Columbus, Ohio, and it was posted at least one month earlier than these viral claims. There is no evidence that this individual had any connection to Haiti.
Further purported evidence comes from far-right or conspiracy influencers providing "on the ground" coverage from Springfield, or from videos of local city council meetings in which alleged residents are seen complaining about the Haitian population. As far as eating animals is concerned, these videos all depict people repeating second-hand information, and are not independent corroboration of those viral claims.
The Bottom Line
There is no evidence, outside of second- and third-hand social media gossip, to support the notion that Haitian residents of Springfield, Ohio, are eating people's pet cats or their parks' waterfowl. The only alleged evidence in support of the former actually depicts an American in a different city. The alleged evidence of the latter stems from a single picture apparently taken in a different city.
For these reasons, and because Springfield officials deny the validity of such reports, the claim is "Unfounded."