Are They Eating Cats and Dogs? How Did This Begin? The Truth About Springfield’s Haitian Migrant Crisis

September 18, 2024 Mark Wolf US 0

Social media has been buzzing this week with reports that Haitian migrants are overwhelming the small city of Springfield, Ohio.

Some of these reports claim migrants are overwhelming the health care system. Others claim they’ve driven up the cost of housing. The most notorious of the claims is that Haitian migrants are capturing and eating local animals, including wild geese and locals’ pets.

But is there any veracity to these claims? What exactly is going on in Springfield?

Here’s what we know so far.

Why Haitian Migrants are Overwhelming Ohio

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Since 2020, approximately 15,000 Haitian migrants have come to Springfield, a city with a population of roughly 59,000 people, as reported by the Associated Press.

Among other problems, the influx has overwhelmed the city’s health care system and has led to numerous traffic problems due to, as the Associated Press describes, Haitians’ unfamiliarity with U.S. traffic laws.

On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine committed to sending millions of dollars in health care funding and local law enforcement resources to help manage the crisis.

“These dramatic surges impact every citizen of the community, every citizen,” DeWine said, according to the Associated Press. “Moms who have to wait hours in a waiting room with a sick child, everyone who drives on the streets, and it affects children who go to school in more crowded classrooms.”

The surge of Haitians arriving in Springfield — and other communities across the U.S. — began when the Biden administration vastly expanded the Temporary Protected Status immigration program.

TPS is offered to migrants who fled their home countries due to dangerous conditions such as natural disasters or war.

While the Trump administration sought to end TPS, according to a Pew Research report, the Biden administration added additional approved countries to the program and “extended the terms of eligibility” for recipients.

During a 2021 appearance on “The View,” Vice President Kamala Harris bragged about how her administration’s TPS expansions had allowed over 100,000 Haitian immigrants to stay in the U.S.

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“The United States has to help. And we have to do more and our administration feels strongly about that. But that is why, also starting with our administration, we gave TPS, Temporary Protected Status, to Haitian migrants — 55,000,” Harris said, according to a transcript of the episode.

“And then, more recently, we extended Temporary Protective Status to over 100,000 Haitian migrants for that very reason, that they need support.”

There Is Evidence of Migrants Eating Local Animals and Pets

Shortly after reports began to be reported of Haitian migrants eating pets and local animals in Springfield, various establishment news outlets quickly began refuting the narrative.

ABC News, for example, fact-checked former President Donald Trump during the Sept. 10 presidential debate when he claimed that Haitian migrants in Springfield were eating cats and dogs.

Moderator David Muir cited comments from Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck claiming “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed … by individuals within the immigrant community.”

Oddly enough, although Trump was citing separate, first- and second-hand witness testimony not necessarily negated by Heck’s comments, ABC News and other outlets remain steadfast in painting such reports as “misinformation.”

A “fact check” published by Reuters serves as yet another example. The report cited a police spokesperson and Springfield Mayor Rob Rue as saying there was no evidence that such reports were credible.

While such claims have yet to be proven, for such outlets to suggest there is “no” evidence is flat-out incorrect.

Over the past week, numerous additional reports have come out supporting the claim that Haitian migrants may be eating local pets and animals.

For instance, a call detail obtained by the Heritage Foundation and shared to X by Townhall journalist Dustin Grage Tuesday reveals a Springfield resident reported her cat was “stolen and chopped up.”

Additionally, audio from a 911 call obtained and released by The Federalist revealed a resident reported seeing “a group of Haitian people” snatching up geese from a local park.

Another resurfaced video revealed that Heck had, in fact, heard some reports of pets being eaten going back to March, long before the story went viral.

It could turn out that claims of Haitian immigrants eating pets and animals have been exaggerated, misrepresented or even false to a certain degree.

However, to claim, as many establishment outlets have, that such claims are “baseless” and evidenceless is patently false.



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