Former President Donald Trump has doubled down his controversial assertions that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are consuming pets, stating they are also “eating other things” that “they’re not supposed to.”
For several weeks, Trump and his campaign have disseminated misinformation regarding Haitian migrants, particularly claiming they are eating local pets. This assertion was notably made during a September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, where it was promptly challenged by ABC News moderators.
During a recent town hall with Univision on Wednesday, an undecided voter named Jose Saralegui confronted Trump about his claims regarding Haitian migrants and their alleged consumption of pets.
Trump replied by falsely claiming he was only “saying what was reported” before adding they are “eating other things too that they’re not supposed to be.” He said he would provide a thorough report on the situation when he visits Springfield.
Saralegui pressed, “Do you really believe that these people are eating the people’s pets?”
Trump responded: “Well, thank you very much. And this was just reported. I was just saying what was reported that’s been reported and eating other things, too, that they’re not supposed to.”
“But this is all I do is report,” he insisted. “I have not — I was there. I’m going to be there. And we’re going to take a look and I’ll give you a full report when I do. But that’s been in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly.”
“I will say this as far as Springfield is concerned, because I do know that situation,” he added. “You have a city of 52,000 people and they’ve added almost 30,000 migrants into the city. If you were a person that lived there, if you lived in Springfield, Ohio, and all of a sudden you couldn’t get into a hospital, you couldn’t get your children into a school, you wouldn’t be able to buy groceries. You could no longer pay the rent because the government’s paying rent, any of that. If any of that happened, it would be a disaster for you and you wouldn’t be happy. We want to make our people safe and secure, and we want to make them happy.
Highlighting the language barrier faced by many newcomers, Trump claimed the swift integration of such a large number of people into a small community is “not sustainable” and could be detrimental to both the town and the country at large. He concluded by stating that residents are understandably unhappy with the changes, implying that many would prefer to leave the area.
“But Springfield, Ohio, is a perfect example. You have a town, a beautiful little town with no problems. All of a sudden they have 30 or 32,000 people dropped into the town, most of whom don’t speak the language, most of whom don’t speak the language at all. And what they’re doing is they’re looking all over for interpreters. Well, I mean, I think you can’t just destroy our country. Maybe some people disagree with me, but you can’t you can’t put in a very short period of time 32,000 people into a 50,000 people town and expect things to go well. It’s a disaster. It’s a total disaster,” Trump insisted. “And the people that live there are you know, they want to leave. They want to move. Because if you if you read about it or talk to them, people want to move. They want to leave because they’ve never had anything like this. And we can’t let that happen to our towns and our cities. And our country just can’t let it happen. It’s not sustainable.”
Watch the clip below:
Question: Do you really believe that these people are eating people’s pets?
Trump: I was just saying what was reported. And eating other things too that they’re not supposed to. pic.twitter.com/GAXezwPkqe
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 16, 2024
