MSNBC analyst Michael Steele said Wednesday that residents of Springfield, Ohio, were “embracing” Haitian immigrants until Republican candidate Donald Trump claimed the migrants were eating their pets.
Steele said on MSNBC's “Chris Jansing Report” that Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance are spreading unproven rumors about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets to appeal to so-called “racist” supporters. He said that before those rumors started, residents were happy with the immigrants and accepted them.
“Here's the facts: Before this, there were no headlines coming out of Springfield saying, 'America, you know what? This little town has a problem,'” Steele said. “And when these moments happen, what we really lose sight of is that before, people were accepting these immigrants, and they were integrating, they were working, they were productive, until J.D. Vance and Donald Trump decided to otherize them and turn their lives and the life of their town upside down.”
Social Media post In a post on a Springfield Facebook group, a resident claimed to have spotted a dead cat hanging from a tree branch in a Haitian neighbor's yard in preparation for eating, but the claim has not been substantiated. Another resident named Anthony Harris claimed during a local board meeting in August that immigrants were stealing ducks in a local park, decapitating them and eating them, but did not provide further evidence. (RELATED: 'You answer that?': Republican House Whip Tom Emmer feuds with CNN host over Springfield immigration crisis)
Police Body Cameras picture In Canton, Ohio, 27-year-old Alexis Terrier Ferrell was photographed eating a cat in front of her neighbors, further fueling rumors that immigrants are eating residents' pets. Authorities arrested her on August 16 for eating the animal “in front of multiple people” in a residential area. According to To Fox 12.
Area residents told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the influx of immigrants has caused a housing crisis, increased crime and they have also witnessed cases of indecent exposure. Baron Seelig, a local non-denominational pastor, said immigrants have wrecked cars and caused multiple accidents in the area.
Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian national, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in May for driving a minivan without a license and swerving in front of a school bus. Murder Aiden Clarke, 11, in August 2023.
Following the introduction of the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) Migrant Flee Program to ensure “safe and orderly passage to the United States” for hundreds of thousands of nationals, some residents are shifting the blame for the ongoing crisis in their communities to the Biden-Harris Administration.
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