Springfield struggles with false rumors about cat eaters

A week after Donald Trump’s comments at a presidential debate thrust this southwest Ohio town into the national spotlight, community members still sometimes have a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction.

The cameras have mostly been packed away, the Proud Boys have gone home, and a shaky, temporary peace appears to have been achieved in the city of Springfield, Ohio.

The only sign of the chaos of the past week are the state troopers guarding local schools. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called them in after nearly 30 bomb threats against schools and government buildings. State authorities say the threats mostly came from outside the U.S., but their exact origin – and who is behind them – is still a mystery.

Most people are certain of one thing: the rumor that started it all – that Haitians regularly catch and eat domestic cats and dogs – is false.

At first glance, Springfield looks like a typical small Midwestern town.

Its assets include stately homes from the city’s heyday, a few bustling downtown blocks, an art museum, a leafy campus and a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house. But not far away are neighborhoods filled with crumbling strip malls, behind which are boarded-up blocks and rutted, potholed streets.

Springfield’s population had been declining for decades until a few years ago when Haitians were lured here by the relatively low cost of living and the prospect of work in local factories. The city estimates the number of Haitians here at 12,000 to 20,000, in a city that previously had a population of about 60,000, according to the 2020 census.

Business owners and some residents have welcomed the newcomers, but some have complained about rent increases, strain on local schools and hospitals, and dangerous drivers.

Tensions escalated last year when a Haitian immigrant’s car rammed a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy.

And then the cat rumors started to emerge in recent weeks. They started with a YouTube clip that included a secondhand account and a Facebook post attributed to a neighbor’s daughter’s friend. The woman behind the post recently retracted her account, saying she had investigated the story further and concluded it was not true.

But the claim that Haitian immigrants eat pets – a claim that has long been made against various immigrant groups in many countries – had already gone viral, spreading on right-wing accounts with large followings until it was repeated online by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance and by Trump during last Wednesday’s debate.

“In Springfield, they eat the dogs,” he said. “The people who came here eat the cats.”

Following the debate, Springfield’s Republican mayor Rob Rue told BBC Newsnight that people need to better understand “the importance of their words and how they can negatively impact the community.”

Why Trump mentioned dogs is unclear – online rumors focused on cats, as well as wild ducks and geese. Local police have not recorded any cases of pets being eaten.

Independent, right-wing and pro-Trump news sources have been searching for evidence, in some cases offering rewards for proof of cat abduction. So far, no evidence of pet consumption has surfaced.

Despite the false claims, Trump’s comments thrust Springfield into the national spotlight and exacerbated tensions between the Haitian community and local residents.

Haitians speak of a feeling of fear caused by misinformation.

Laura Koveleski, 26, who grew up in the city and runs a business with her Haitian mother that provides translation and other services to immigrants, described numerous harassments – in addition to the bomb threats – which she said have created a climate of fear and paranoia.

“Haitians who used to just go about their business, go to work and come home are now afraid to go out on the streets or gather,” she said.

She also said the immigrant community had been wrongly portrayed as “illegal.”

The city says most of the recent immigrants are legal asylum seekers who have been granted temporary protection status that entitles them to work and receive social benefits.

At the same time, many long-time residents fear that their concerns will simply be dismissed because of the lies about eating cats.

One resident, who did not want to give his name, told the BBC that Haitians were being exploited by being offered high rents and lower wages – with corresponding economic knock-on effects for the existing population.

“They are being taken advantage of,” he said. “They are not being treated well at all.”

But “everyone’s cats are safe, dogs are safe,” he added.

He said Haitians who were encouraged by some local companies to move here to address post-pandemic labor shortages were being exploited by companies and government officials.

Rumors that white vans are transporting more migrants here continue to worry some residents.

In reality, the vans are factory transport vehicles that take workers to their workplaces.

At Haitian restaurant Rose Goute in south Springfield, businessman Jacob Payen says life for Haitians like him has become “complicated” in the last week.

“Many people live in such fear that they don’t even want to go shopping anymore. That worries me because it wasn’t like that before,” he said.

Mr. Payen, 46, who runs a religious and spiritual goods store and helps out at Rose Goute, first emigrated to Florida, where he lived for two decades before moving to Springfield three years ago.

“The whole place looked like a ghost town. It was deserted,” he remembers.

When he first heard the rumors, he thought, “Maybe someone is joking, or maybe someone is playing a prank on the community.”

“But then we hear it from the former president and his vice president (candidate). Then things get serious,” he said.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Vance said: “If I have to make up stories to get the American media to actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then I will do that.”

He then clarified that he based his statements on the issue of pet food on “first-hand reports from my constituents.”

The Ohio senator, who grew up about 50 miles from Springfield, did not provide further details. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Vance and Trump’s comments brought a flood of attention to the city that is only just beginning to subside.

Dozens of bomb threats, many of them against schools, have left many families in Springfield in a state of panic.

“I think they need to keep the schools out of this,” a mother said Tuesday outside Spring Hill Elementary School.

A local cultural festival meant to celebrate diversity was also cancelled.

Several far-right groups have performed here, including a weekend rally by the Proud Boys, but those groups appear to have moved on.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has said he might return for a campaign rally, and some residents are expressing fears that if he does, the situation could flare up again.

But while these external influences are felt in the city, it is the local conflicts that concern everyone.

While driving through town, I witnessed a car accident involving a Haitian woman and an elderly local man. The Haitian woman’s car overturned. She and her young baby were taken to the hospital for evaluation, but none of the people involved were seriously injured.

It was unclear who exactly was at fault, but one of the women in the local’s car insisted that the Haitian driver had run a red light.

Shocked by the car accident, she said: “The Haitians must go back, all of them.”

Ms Koveleski, who runs the translation and counseling service with her Haitian mother, said she understood the concerns of long-time locals – she is one herself – but she reported numerous cases of harassment and attacks against Haitian immigrants since last Wednesday’s debate.

“A woman came into my office with her young son, who is probably about four years old, and she just wanted a one-way ticket (away from Springfield) because she was afraid someone was going to kill her son,” she said. “She says in the area where she lives, people yell at her. She knows it’s hateful, but she doesn’t understand what they’re saying.”

One possible positive effect of focusing on Springfield, she said, is that it could encourage state and federal authorities to provide funding for projects that would benefit all residents, such as a youth center.

“Haitians are scared and locals are angry, but now that we have national attention, we can ask for federal help and that can do a lot for the city,” she said.

And Mr. Payen said he was encouraged by the response from many non-Haitians. He has been closely monitoring Rose Goute’s clientele over the past week and says more than 90 percent of them are non-Haitians.

“They want to taste what the food tastes like,” he says. “But they also come to support us as a community.”