The White House has accused Republicans of spreading dangerous falsehoods about Haitian immigrants after Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance and other top Republicans posted messages on social media accusing Haitians of eating cats and other pets. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
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“What is deeply disturbing is that elected officials of the Republican Party are pushing yet another conspiracy theory that tries to divide people based on lies and, let's be honest, an element of racism,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, on Tuesday.
“These kinds of claims and misinformation are dangerous because there are always going to be people who will believe it, no matter how absurd or ridiculous, and may act on that information in a way that could cause harm to someone. This has to stop,” Kirby added.
Vance, a senator and Republican vice presidential candidate, wrote on social media on Monday: “Reports are coming in of people taking pets and eating them - people who shouldn't be in this country,” accusing Haitian immigrants of ‘creating chaos’ in Springfield, Ohio, his hometown. Other Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz and billionaire Elon Musk, have made similar statements and memes in recent days.
However, the local police have not received any such reports and have issued a statement on the situation: “In response to recent rumors of criminal activity by immigrants in our city, we want to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific allegations of harm, injury, or abuse of pets by immigrants,” the Springfield police said.
The rumors began in a local Facebook group, where someone posted that a cat was missing and claimed, without any evidence, that Haitians had taken the animal for food, ABC News reported. On Tuesday, Vance acknowledged that these claims were not substantiated: “Of course, it's possible that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” he wrote in X, but continued to blame Haitian migration for impacting health, education and other issues in the region.
But Vance did not back down. In another post on Tuesday, he wrote: “Don't let the media crybabies distract you, true patriots. Keep spreading the cat memes.
This incident comes amid a rise in hate crimes in the United States. According to the FBI, the number of such crimes increased from about 8,500 in 2018 to more than 13,300 in 2022, a record high.
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