{"slug":"springfield-haitian-pet-eating-hoax-2024","title":"The Springfield Pet-Eating Hoax: A False Claim Against Haitian Immigrants, Followed by a Wave of Bomb Threats","date":"2024-09-10","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"In the September 10, 2024 presidential debate, Donald Trump said of Springfield, Ohio: 'They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats.' City officials and police had already said there were no credible reports of pets being harmed, and Ohio's Republican governor, Mike DeWine, called the claim 'a piece of garbage that is simply not true.' From September 12, bomb threats forced the evacuation and closure of schools, City Hall and other public buildings; DeWine counted 'at least 33' by September 16, all hoaxes. Most of the city's Haitian residents are lawfully present, yet Trump pledged to revoke their Temporary Protected Status and deport them. PolitiFact named the claim its 2024 Lie of the Year.","summary":"Trump repeated a debunked rumour that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. In the days that followed, the city's schools and public buildings were repeatedly evacuated over hoax bomb threats, KKK flyers appeared, and the Republican mayor blamed federal politicians' words. Trump then promised to strip the community's legal status and deport them.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"significant","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.npr.org/2024/09/11/nx-s1-5108401/donald-trump-debate-eating-dogs-cats-immigrants-false-stereotype","title":"Trump doubles down on false stereotypes about immigrants eating pets in debate","publisher":"NPR"},{"url":"https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/dec/17/theyre-eating-the-pets-trump-vance-earn-politifact/","title":"'They're eating the pets:' Trump, Vance earn PolitiFact's Lie of the Year for claims about Haitians","publisher":"PolitiFact"},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/15/republican-ohio-gov-mike-dewine-trump-vance-false-immigrant-pets-conspiracy.html","title":"'A piece of garbage': Republican Ohio Gov. condemns Trump-Vance false immigrant pet-eating conspiracy","publisher":"CNBC"},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/16/springfield-bomb-threats-ohio-republican.html","title":"Ohio GOP Gov. DeWine says 'at least 33' bomb threats prompt Springfield to begin daily school sweeps","publisher":"CNBC"},{"url":"https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/09/17/amid-ongoing-threats-ohio-gop-us-senate-candidate-calls-for-deporting-springfield-legal-immigrants/","title":"Amid ongoing threats, Ohio GOP US Senate candidate calls for deporting Springfield legal immigrants","publisher":"Ohio Capital Journal"},{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/03/politics/trump-revoke-status-ohio-haitian-migrants/index.html","title":"Trump says he would revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants in Springfield if elected","publisher":"CNN"},{"url":"https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-4&chapter=4&clang=_en","title":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: status, declarations and reservations (US reservation to Article 20)","publisher":"United Nations Treaty Collection"},{"url":"https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-2&chapter=4&clang=_en","title":"International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: status, declarations and reservations","publisher":"United Nations Treaty Collection"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_pet-eating_hoax","title":"Springfield pet-eating hoax","publisher":"Wikipedia"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Springfield","Haitian immigrants","disinformation","dehumanizing rhetoric","bomb threats","Temporary Protected Status","2024 campaign","JD Vance"],"relatedEntries":["mass-tps-terminations","haiti-deportation-to-danger","trump-ms13-dehumanizing-rhetoric-racial","trump-first-term-shithole-countries-comments"],"timeline":[{"date":"2024-09-09","title":"Vance amplifies the rumour","summary":"JD Vance promotes the unfounded claim in a post on X (CNBC)."},{"date":"2024-09-10","title":"City says there are no credible reports; Trump repeats the claim in the debate","summary":"Springfield's mayor and the Clark County commission president say they cannot verify any credible report of pets being harmed. That night, Trump repeats the claim before a national audience in the debate with Kamala Harris."},{"date":"2024-09-12","title":"Bomb threats begin","summary":"Hoax bomb threats force evacuations of schools, City Hall and other public buildings. Closures continue daily (PolitiFact; Ohio Capital Journal)."},{"date":"2024-09-15","title":"DeWine: 'a piece of garbage'; Vance: 'create stories'","summary":"On ABC, Gov. DeWine calls the claim false and says the Haitian residents are there legally. On CNN, Vance defends creating stories to draw media attention. Wittenberg University cancels activities after emailed shooting threats targeting Haitians (CNBC)."},{"date":"2024-09-16","title":"'At least 33' bomb threats","summary":"DeWine announces daily Ohio State Highway Patrol sweeps of Springfield schools after at least 33 bomb threats, all hoaxes, and says some threats came from overseas (CNBC)."},{"date":"2024-10-02","title":"Trump pledges to revoke TPS and deport","summary":"In a NewsNation interview, Trump says he would 'absolutely' revoke the Haitians' Temporary Protected Status and send them back to Haiti (CNN)."},{"date":"2024-12-17","title":"PolitiFact's Lie of the Year","summary":"PolitiFact names the Trump and Vance claims about Haitian immigrants its 2024 Lie of the Year."}],"location":{"name":"Springfield, Ohio","lat":39.9242,"lng":-83.8088},"custom":{"era":"post-presidency","posture":"documented","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 20(2)","provision":"Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. This obligation binds states, not individuals, and the United States entered a reservation to Article 20 on free-speech grounds."},{"statute":"International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination","article":"Article 4","provision":"Condemnation of propaganda based on ideas of racial superiority or hatred. The United States is a party, with a reservation limiting Article 4 to what the First Amendment permits."}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Springfield's Haitian community, estimated by the city at 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants in Clark County and, according to the city, there legally (CNN); Springfield schoolchildren, families and public employees affected by repeated evacuations and closures; city officials who received death threats","perpetrators":"Donald Trump (then a presidential candidate); JD Vance (then a U.S. senator and vice-presidential candidate), who amplified the claim first","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Republican presidential nominee; repeated the claim in the September 10 debate and pledged to deport Springfield's Haitian residents","institution":"Trump 2024 campaign"},{"name":"JD Vance","role":"U.S. senator from Ohio and vice-presidential nominee; amplified the claim from September 9","institution":"Trump 2024 campaign"}],"keyPoints":["Debate, September 10, 2024: 'They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there.' Moderator David Muir noted there had been no credible reports of pets being harmed (NPR).","Springfield's mayor and county commission president had said on September 10: 'We have not been able to verify any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused' (PolitiFact). Republican Gov. Mike DeWine: 'This is a piece of garbage that is simply not true. There's no evidence of this at all … these people are here legally' (CNBC).","Bomb threats began on September 12. DeWine said on September 16 that 'at least 33' had been made, each a hoax, and ordered daily state-police sweeps of Springfield schools (CNBC). Mayor Rob Rue counted more than 35 threats of violence between September 10 and 20 (CNN).","An armed neo-Nazi group had marched through the city in August, and KKK flyers reading 'Foreigners and Haitians Out' appeared that weekend. Republican Mayor Rob Rue said: 'it was their words that did it' (Ohio Capital Journal).","Running mate JD Vance said on CNN: '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.'","On October 2, 2024, asked whether he would revoke the Haitians' Temporary Protected Status, Trump said: 'Absolutely. I'd revoke it, and I'd bring them back to their country' (CNN).","DeWine said some of the threats came from 'people, unfortunately overseas' (CNBC). Who sent them, and whether the senders were moved by Trump's words, has not been established in the sources fetched."],"legalBasis":"ICCPR Article 20(2) and ICERD Article 4 (state obligations regarding advocacy of racial hatred, both subject to US reservations); the claim was found false by local police, city officials and the governor of Ohio","postureNote":"No court or official body has attributed the bomb threats to Trump's statements, and no charges against Trump or Vance arising from the claim are recorded in the sources fetched. The falsity of the claim is not disputed by any official body. Haitian TPS terminations in the second term are recorded separately.","relatedIncidents":["mass-tps-terminations","haiti-deportation-to-danger","trump-ms13-dehumanizing-rhetoric-racial","trump-first-term-shithole-countries-comments"]}}