Welcome back to your weekly update on US politics, where North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan catches you up on the biggest developments in America as we hurtle towards election day in November.
“Talk about extreme.”
When Donald Trump took a question in this week's debate about border security legislation, and used it to segue into unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio, Kamala Harris had her reply ready to go.
In front of the tens of millions of Americans watching on at home, the former president had amplified rumours that began on social media.
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“In Springfield, they're eating the dogs,” Trump claimed.
“The people that came in, they're eating the cats.”
Harris shook her head and laughed as Trump continued, likely in the knowledge that her attempts to goad the former president into showcasing his most, in her words, extreme positions had worked.
But while Democrats hope the rhetoric will turn off undecided voters, the former president is doubling down, reiterating the claims in the days after the debate and flooding his social media accounts with “Cats for Trump” memes.
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It doesn't matter that Trump's running mate, JD Vance — who first helped to elevate the rumours — has conceded they may “turn out to be false”.
While many Americans would be appalled by the controversy, it's also focused attention on an issue that Republicans consider to be one of their strongest at this election: immigration.
“This town has been ravaged by 20,000 migrants coming in,” Vance told CNN after the debate.
“If we have to meme about it to get the media to care, we're going to keep on doing it.”
The city at the centre of the storm
Tensions had been experienced in Springfield, Ohio, long before the debate got underway.
Thousands of Haitian migrants with temporary legal status have moved to the area in recent years, drawn to the city — according to local officials — by job opportunities and the relatively low cost of living.
Local businesses that had struggled to find workers welcomed the new arrivals. But the rapid jump in the city's population also put pressure on its health and education systems.
And when a Haitian man, driving without a valid licence, crashed into a school bus in 2023 and killed an 11-year-old boy, it prompted outrage in the community.
But the national focus on Springfield intensified after a claim on social media, attributed to the poster's neighbour's daughter's friend, accused a Haitian household of butchering her cat.
Vance pointed to the claims on X the day before the debate, in a post that was highlighted by the platform's owner, Elon Musk.
He followed up by referencing the death of the child in the bus crash, arguing he'd been “murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here”.
By the time Trump was taking to the stage in Philadelphia, the boy's father had delivered an emotional plea to keep his son out of the political conversation.
“They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members,” Nathan Clark told a community meeting in Springfield.
“However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.”
Springfield officials say they have no evidence of pets being eaten, and in a video statement posted after the debate, city manager Bryan Heck called out what he said was misinformation “further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle”.
A bomb threat, that the mayor said contained “hateful” language towards migrants, later forced the closure of the local city hall.
The following day, a second threat prompted the evacuation of several schools.
“This is a very concerning time for our citizens, and frankly, a lot of people are tired of the things that have been spread about our community that are just negative and not true,” Springfield‘s mayor Rob Rue told American ABC.
“We need help, not hate.”
Focus shifts back to Trump's favoured topic
President Joe Biden condemned Trump's comments, arguing the Haitian community was “under attack”.
“It's simply wrong. There's no place in America,” he said on Friday, local time.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is Haitian-American, had earlier described the former president's statement as a “very bizarre and very hateful smear”.
But Trump has not backed away from the claims, reiterating them in a post-debate rally and TV interview in Arizona.
Asked at a press conference in California why he continued to do so, even as bomb threats were being made in Springfield, he interrupted the questioner.
“No, no,” he replied.
“The real threat is what's happening at our border.”
Trump has made immigration a major focus of his campaign, promising to reinstate many of the policies of his first administration – and take them further – if he wins in November.
The former president has long blamed the Biden administration for a surge in the number of people crossing the US southern border, although numbers have fallen substantially from earlier historic highs.
He's described illegal crossings as an “invasion”, accused migrants of “poisoning the blood” of the country, and pledged to carry out the largest deportation in America's history.
As with so many political issues in the US, it's incredibly divisive. Harris's campaign has described Trump's plans as “dangerous and bizarre”.
But opinion polls consistently suggest immigration is a major concern for many voters, and that more Americans believe Trump would do a better job of managing it.
While some Republicans have questioned the decision to fuel the Ohio pets story, senior Trump advisor Tim Murtaugh argued it had put immigration back in the spotlight.
“Now it's a major story,” he told NBC News.
“We would otherwise probably not be talking about immigration if not for that.”
In case you missed it: Biden's new merch
Even in an election campaign with so many surprises, few would have expected to see Joe Biden wearing his predecessor's merchandise.
The president donned a signature-red Trump cap while meeting firefighters near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to mark the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Video from the event shows the president laughing with a man who called him an “old fart”, with Biden joking, “I don't remember my name, I'm slow.”
After being egged on by the crowd, Biden briefly put the hat on over his own and smiled for the cameras.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates described the moment as a “gesture” aimed at “bipartisan unity”.
But the president also took the opportunity to take a dig at his former opponent.
“Just remember,” he said, “no eating dogs and cats.”
