About 10,000 to 15,000 Haitian migrants have moved to Springfield over the past five years, the Springfield News-Sun reported. They’re living in the city legally under the Immigration Parole Program, which allows Haitians to live and work in the U.S. while Haiti copes with political instability and natural disasters.
But there is no evidence they are killing and eating ducks and pets.
Multiple officials in Springfield, a city of about 58,000 people in central Ohio, have said there is no evidence of Haitian migrants harming or eating any dogs, cats or other pets. Karen Graves, a spokesperson for the city, told USA TODAY that they “have not received any substantiated reports of duck mutilation.”
Fact check : Migrants approached school buses, did not try to ‘hijack' them
Jason Via, deputy director of public safety and operations for the Springfield Police Department, told NPR in August that police in the city have heard a variety of unfounded claims about Haitian migrants, and he specifically called out the claim about ducks supposedly being harmed in the city’s parks.
“I think it's sad that some people are using this as an opportunity to spread hate or spread fear,” Via said. “We get these reports ‘the Haitians are killing ducks in a lot of our parks' or ‘the Haitians are eating vegetables right out of the aisle at the grocery store'. And we haven't really seen any of that. It's really frustrating. As a community, it's not helpful as we try to move forward.”
City Manager Bryan Heck said in a statement, “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” USA TODAY previously reported.
In a video released Sept. 11, Heck said he was disappointed the narrative about the city had “been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and amplified by political rhetoric.”
“While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of growth rather than the rumors being reported,” he said. “These rumors will not distract us from addressing the true strain on our resources, including the impact to our schools, health care system and first responders.”
There was one incident in Canton, Ohio – about 170 miles northeast of Springfield – that involved a 27-year-old woman arrested in August on suspicion of killing and eating a cat, the Canton Repository reported. The suspect is not Haitian, according to the Associated Press.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Karen Graves, Sept. 11, Email exchange with USA TODAY
NPR, Aug. 12, How Springfield, Ohio, took center stage in the election immigration debate
USA TODAY, Sept. 10, ‘They’re eating the dogs ’: Trump echoes false anti-immigrant rumor during debate
Canton Repository, Aug. 17, Canton woman accused of killing, eating cat after ‘stomping its head'
Springfield News-Sun, Sept. 9, Ohio AG rips Springfield immigration, eyes lawsuit; local leaders talk solutions
Associated Press, Sept. 10, Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.
