Washington — Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance on Sunday defended amplify debunked allegations about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, while refusing to correct the record amid threats to the community in recent days.
“People are frustrated by the national media attention. Some are also grateful that someone is finally paying attention to what’s going on,” Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “We’re never going to get this perfect.”
In recent days, Vance and former President Donald Trump, along with other allies, have amplified baseless rumors about immigrants in the Ohio city. On Sept. 9, Vance wrote in a post on X that people “have had their pets taken and eaten by people who should not be in this country,” while blaming the Biden-Harris administration. Trump then repeated the claim during the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, before coming clean. committing to expel legal Haitian immigrants in Venezuela a few days later.
In the meantime, there has been Bomb threats in recent days against schools and hospitals In the Springfield area, authorities said, hospitals were closed and several schools were evacuated.
Vance condemned Sunday’s threats of violence, saying that individuals who made the threats should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” But he added that “we do not believe in vetoes by hecklers in this country.”
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“You can condemn the violence, on the one hand, and still say that Kamala Harris’ open border in Springfield has caused terrible problems,” Vance said.
Asked about the Proud Boys who marched in Springfield on Saturday, Vance said that while he did not share the far-right group’s views, the development was being used as a distraction from the larger issues facing Springfield.
“I’m far more concerned that the vice president of the United States didn’t do her job than I am that a dozen people carried the wrong flag when they marched in Springfield, Ohio, yesterday,” Vance added.
As for the allegations about immigrants eating pets, Vance said he has heard “about a dozen things” from his constituents, 10 of which he said are verifiable.
Springfield’s police chief, mayor and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, have all made clear that there have been no credible reports of immigrants stealing and eating pets. refuted the claim Last week, the governor acknowledged on CBS News that settling 15,000 immigrants in a city of just under 60,000 people over the past two years poses challenges, including overburdening health care systems.
Vance pointed to the significant increase in the number of immigrants settling in Springfield, saying the toll on the city’s health care and education systems amounted to a “terrible tragedy.”
“We’re not angry at Haitian migrants who want a better life,” Vance said. “We’re angry at Kamala Harris for letting this happen in a small town in Ohio. And thank goodness Donald Trump has brought attention to this issue and he will fight against these policies if the American people reward him with the presidency.”
Vance accused Harris of running a program that brought immigrants to Ohio. Under the Temporary Protected Status program, thousands of immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict or environmental disasters were granted protections from deportation and work permits under multiple administrations.
On Sunday, Vance falsely claimed that Trump extended Temporary Protected Status for Haiti in 2017 before ending it in 2018. But that status, created in 2010 and extended multiple times by the Obama administration, was also extended in 2020 after the Trump administration’s efforts to end it were rejected by the courts. It has since been extended by the Biden administration.
Vance also reiterated baseless allegations Saturday that immigrants eat pets, responding on X to a video that alleged immigrants in Dayton, Ohio, were eating cats.
“Kamala Harris and her media apparatchiks should be ashamed,” the Ohio Republican said. “Another ‘debunked’ story that turned out to be true.”
Dayton, Ohio, police said Saturday that there was no proof Immigrants eat pets, call claims ‘outlandish’
Asked about the new claim Sunday, Vance said in sharing it he was representing his Ohio constituents and their concerns.
“Anyone who has dealt with a massive influx of migrants knows that some cultural practices sometimes seem very far removed from reality for many Americans. Are we not allowed to talk about that in the United States of America?” Vance said. “I’m going to talk about what my constituents send me.”
