The Story Behind ‘They’re Eating the Pets’

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. daily at this week's presidential debate. in Springfield they're eating the dogs. the people that came in they're eating. the cats they're eating they're eating. the pets of the people that live there. and this is what Donald Trump went into. an unprompted digression about. immigrants eating people's pets I just. want to clarify here you rig up.

Springfield Ohio and ABC News did reach. out to the city manager there uh he told. us there have been no credible reports. of specific claims of pets being harmed. injured or abused by individuals within. the Immigrant Community while the claims. were debunked the topic was left. unexplained today my colleague Miriam. Jordan on the story behind those. shocking and false claims and the town. and the tragedy that gave rise to them.

it's Friday September. 13th so Miriam one of the standout. moments in the debate on Tuesday was. this kind of bizarre exchange where. Donald Trump made a reference to a. conspiracy theory about Haitian. immigrants he said that they had been. eating people's pets in the town of. Springfield Ohio and a lot of people I. assume had no idea what he was talking. about but you knew exactly what he was.

referring to tell us about that well yes. Donald Trump was talking about the. latest and perhaps strangest turn in the. story that I've been covering in. Springfield Ohio a midsize town in the. southern part of the state it has to do. with the Haitian immigrant community in. that town and a controversy surrounding. their arrival in large numbers and and I.

should say right away of course there's. absolutely no evidence that any. immigrants were actually stealing an. eating pets this has no basis in reality. local authorities have denied it but it. exploded on social media and this town. landed in the middle of this election. campaign okay let's start at the. beginning what should we know about. Springfield Ohio in its heyday was.

extremely prosperous industrial Barons. who manufactured farming equipment built. incredibly Majestic Victorian homes that. you know still line some of the Avenues. there and generally it was considered a. a mini Chicago wow the city had a. population at its peak of about 880,000. in the 60s early 70s but then like many. of these towns.

in the midwest it began to lose. population in large part because so many. manufacturing jobs went overseas. companies that operated in town. shuddered and people had to look for. opportunity elsewhere so what begins to. happen is that this town as it falls on. Hard Times you begin to see houses. boarded up buildings abandoned.

downtown looking in sad shape and that. decline persisted for several decades. until a few years ago when the city. leadership and the Chamber of Commerce. decided to do something about it they. came up with a plan to revitalize the. city they started pitching the city as. an attractive place to do business the. location of City smack dab between.

Dayton and Columbus is a big plus it's. easily accessible to two interstates it. has several colleges and. institutions for training and it's an. affordable place to live and to operate. as a business and this plan actually. succeeds a major turning point was in.

2017 when a very large Japanese Auto. Parts maker acquired land in a decaying. part of the city and set up shop. creating hundreds of jobs and it was. probably one of the biggest employers. that ended up setting shop there but it. wasn't the only one you know companies. that make boxes for Happy Meal sold at. McDonald's wow companies that dist. distribute clothing across the.

country but there was a. problem there weren't enough workers so. what happened well immigrants start to. arrive in particular Haitians you know. like other immigrant. groups they hear about opportunities By. Word of Mouth they tell each other in. this case they were drawn by the. availability of well-paying jobs and. they also heard that the cost of living.

was pretty low in. Springfield so soon more and more. Haitians arrived and they were very. attractive to. employers because they had authorization. to legally work in the United. States and what they have is something. called temporary protected status what's. that it's a designation given to people.

from countries in turmoil like. Haiti and it means that. Nationals from these places in upheaval. who have already arrived in the United. States can stay in the United States. legally so the status enables the. immigrants to get employment. authorization which is a huge benefit to. businesses in Springfield that need. workers so how many Haitian immigrants.

end up coming so estimates vary but what. I've heard from City officials is that. between 12,000 and 20,000 Haitian. migrants moved to Springfield in the. last three to four years so a city that. had a population just under 60,000 now. possibly has 880,000. wow so what happens in the town once.

they start to settle there and live. their lives how does the town. change by most accounts Springfield. benefits from this influx of. Haitians they have come to work I heard. from employers like uh Jamie McGregor. who runs an auto parts maker that. patients are coming to work on time. they're reliable they're drama free and.

they've now come to represent 10% of his. Workforce the immigrants are working in. a variety of capacities some of them are. opening businesses and restaurants. they're sending their kids to schools. you know schools that actually had been. losing students because the city had. been. shrinking and they're leasing Homes and. Apartments I met a landlord in fact who.

has been you know buying up some of. these homes that had been delinquent on. property taxes and went to auction and. fixing them up to rent them to Haitians. and I took a spin around town with him. and I was able to see that there are. many blocks where newly refurbished. homes are spruing up the. neighborhood they have Manny crewed. Gardens and they look a lot more.

cheerful than blocks where you know. homes are still boarded. up so you're seeing literally a town. come back to life very quickly almost. overnight that's true but the sudden. influx of all these people also puts a. huge strain on the town's resources for. example the schools.

now have 1,500 out of 7500 students who. are English language Learners wow that's. meant that the school district very. quickly has had to hire you know English. as a second language instructors. interpreters and others to assist the. new students and the families at the. main federally subsidized health clinic. in the city the head of the clinic.

actually told me that they had seen. Haitians lining up at 5:00 a.m. about. three hours before the clinic actually. opens to secure appointments and. meanwhile longtime residents could not. get in and appointments that were. scheduled for 15 minute slots can take. up to 45 minutes because there's now. this massive need for.

translation for folks who are not fluent. in English and then there's the toll on. housing in. Springfield and that problem's been. exacerbated by the arrival of so many. Haitians rents have gone up and. sometimes four or five Haitian. men rent one house they can afford to. pay more than one American family with.

one or two Bread Winners right. interesting so there has been some. displacement of Americans who are. lowincome and who have had trouble. making their. rent so some resentment starts to build. under the. surface but the town is just going about. its business and people are living their. lives until something tragic happens.

that makes these feelings boil. [Music]. over so on the first day of school last. year 52 students were on a bus that was. traveling down Route. 41 when a minivan veered into oncoming. traffic hit the bus and caused it to tip. over a horrifying s a school bus flipped.

over while taking dozens of elementary. students to their first day of class. ejecting an 11-year-old boy and killing. him one student who court records. identify as Aiden Clark did not survive. fact that all them little babies were. just all tore up more than 20 students. were. hospitalized the driver of the minivan. was a. 36-year-old Haitian immigrant the patrol. tells me they arrested Herman Joseph. late this afternoon. authorities didn't find that he had.

consumed alcohol or drugs and in May of. this year he was convicted of. involuntary manslaughter and people they. are still here at the scene grieving. what happened but they're doing it. together the accident shook the. community to its. core but also suddenly all the. resentment that people had been feeling. burst into the open.

[Music]. we'll be right. back so Miriam what happens in. Springfield after this incident as the. community tries to process all of this. so this accident really brought into the. open these simmering tensions some. residents had been feeling about the.

Haitian Community okay the formal City. commission meetings called to order call. the role Dr estop here Mrs H and people. began packing these public meetings to. express their. frustration we'll begin with public. comment we have several cards so I may. ask one speaker to go to this and what. were people saying in the Miriam they. run the gamut I live on that inner town. where a bunch of them live and they. drive down North Street the wrong way.

every day of the week we have kids to. live in our neighborhoods people. complained about how Haitians drive like. they're upping the rent 17 $1800 a month. all because they have three incomes in. one house we can't afford that here in. Springfield about how Haitians are. pushing up housing costs how are they. getting beded they wondered out loud. whether Haitians were dangerous now we. have Haitian prostitutes what diseases. do they have others used racist tropes.

patients will soon be the majority. population in Springfield nowhere on the. planet is it acceptable for another. culture to create a majority population. by replacing the native. population not one person had a meeting. and ask anyone in in this community how. we felt about them coming in here and. invading our city the city several. people suggest. that the city was being invaded you got.

people that are upset and they want. [Music]. answers and you know the officials. struggle to respond to them as far as. entering the the. country they are um immigrants are. allowed into the country under what's. called humanitarian parole illegal can. we. please all they could say was you know.

don't blame us we didn't bring the. Haitians here they've come here we can't. do anything now the decisions about who. gets in this country and who doesn't and. who gets to stay and for how long do not. reside here they reside in Columbus and. Washington. DC but that didn't seem to calm people. down not going to sit here at a city.

commission meeting in front of our. commissioners our mayor and everybody. else and all these people be told that. it's not your problem either you guys. can step up and take control or get your. asses out of. here so it sounds like the bus accident. really opened up the floodgates gave. people permission to start to complain. about things openly that they might have. only been saying privately before.

exactly so at this point it's a little. unclear what happened next but by all. accounts it seems that the pressure that. was building reached a point that local. elected officials felt they needed to do. something to address residents concerns. and so one of the things that they do is. that they focus on all these complaints. surrounding the housing situation in.

early July they send a letter to the. Senate Banking Committee and they. explain that this city of Springfield is. facing a significant housing crisis that. has been exacerbated by the large influx. of. immigrants and the letter is copied to. Ohio Senator JD Vance and he runs with. it. there's a community called Springfield.

Ohio and it's very close to my heart. because Springfield Ohio if any of you. know the state of Ohio is nearly a. carbon copy of Middletown Ohio where I. grew up it's a population he attends a. conservative conference in Washington DC. and he invokes the town people now go to. Springfield go to Clark County Ohio and. ask the people there whether they have. been enriched by 20,000 newcomers in 4. years. housing is through the roof he says that.

middle class people who have lived there. for Generations can't afford a place to. live that these quote illegal immigrants. are straining the city but my interest. is not in protecting the good people of. another country I'm a senator for the. state of Ohio our leaders have to. protect the interests of the citizens of. this country. and the next thing you know Springfield.

Ohio is facing a significant housing. crisis as thousands of Haitian migrants. have arrived on their doorstep because. of the federal government the. Springfield City manager and mayor are. on Fox and Friends thank you for having. us on this morning you know when we see. a 25% increase over a three-year period. we're a community we do not have the. capacity to to sustain that the mayor. and the city. manager say that the city is under.

tremendous strain because of this surge. in the Haitian population it's taxing. health care and as JD Vance uh spoke on. it's taxing our housing and uh without. additional federal assistance or support. again communities like Springfield will. fail and they blame the Biden. Administration for letting people into. the country without keeping track of. them or providing addition assistance to.

the localities that receive them support. thank you so much for joining us this. morning so what happens after this fox. and friend's appearance this whole. situation takes a very strange turn a. few weeks. later um I think it's like kind of odd. that like a guy like me has to come out. from doing what I do on a daily basis to. have fun cuz I see what's going on in. these streets and I see you guys it. seems that it all begins with a guy at a. City commission meeting who described.

himself as an. influencer they're in the park grabbing. up Ducks by their neck and cut head he. claims that Haitians are grabbing Ducks. from the park decapitating them and. eating them whoa like we got to do. something bro it's at the same time in a. neighborhood Facebook group someone. posts that a neighbor's daughter's. friend had seen a dead cat hanging from.

a tree at a Haitian home a neighbor's. daughter's friend that's pretty far. removed right but then there's video. footage that surfaces of someone. allegedly eating a cat and actually that. person was not Haitian and this did not. happen in Springfield but it still added. fuel to the fire and this whole.

situation goes. viral Trump's son Don Junior tweets that. Haitians are eating pets in Springfield. Elon Musk shared a post of people eating. pets saying vote for Kamala if you want. this to happen to your. neighborhood and there's this billboard. put up by the Arizona GOP that says eat. less kittens vote. Republican and then of course Trump.

talks about it from the debate stage on. Tuesday. [Music]. night so this is pretty wild and these. claims you know they really evoke racist. stereotypes of past eras like it's. reminding me of the Willie Horton ad you. know the infamous television ad from the. 1988 presidential campaign that used. racist fears and stere ypes about crime.

against Michael Dukakis the Democrat at. the time except this is of the meme era. right in a way this is a classic Trump. campaign move these memes are offensive. and they turn off some voters but at the. same time everyone's paying attention. sharing them and talking about them so. they're spreading like wildfire entering. the world of culture social media break. through the noise and so many more.

people are noticing something that at. its root is an issue that's bad for. Democrats immigration so if you think. about it this way it's actually worth it. for the Republicans to share this kind. of stuff even if it's gross and untrue. because it's politically beneficial in. fact Vance himself tweeted about this. just on Tuesday he said that yes the.

memes could be false but he also seemed. to suggest that there was a utility to. them he said quote don't let the. crybabies in the media dissuade you. fellow Patriots keep the cat memes. flowing so Miriam given all of that. internet vitriol and and all of these. memes raining down on Springfield it. makes me wonder what do people in. Springfield think have you talked to. them what are they saying. well in the Haitian Community they're.

certainly feeling afraid and what I. heard is that people are calling the. Haitian Community Center asking about. whether their children will be safe and. whether it might be time to leave. Springfield and on Wednesday the day. after the debate the city manager put. out a video expressing dismay that these.

rumors and political rhetoric have. become a distraction from the real. problems that his city is facing so he's. really trying to bring everybody back to. reality yes but what will stay with me. most is that just before the debate was. underway on Tuesday night we felt it. would be in our best interest to be here. after recent comments the father of.

Aiden Clark the 11-year-old boy killed. in that bus crash spoke at another city. commission meeting you know I wish that. my son Aiden. Clark was killed by a 60-year-old white. man I bet you never thought anyone would. ever say something so. blunt but if that guy killed my. 11-year-old.

son the incessant group of hate spewing. people would leave us. alone the last thing that we need is to. have the worst day of Our Lives. violently and constantly shoved in our. faces and in an impassion speech. expressed his utter disgust really with. politicians who he described as morally. bankrupt. for utilizing his child as a tool to.

score political points to clear the air. my son Aiden Clark was not. murdered he was accidentally killed by. an immigrant from. Haiti this tragedy is felt all over this. community the state and even the. nation but don't spin this towards. hate in order to live like Aiden you. need to accept everyone choose to and he.

said that one of the worst feelings in. the world that he'd had is his. inability to not just protect his. child. but protect his memory now that he's. gone I said to Aiden that I would try to. make a difference in his honor this is. it live like. Aiden thank you. [Music].

so here is someone who has every right. to be angry and turn away from this. circus but instead he's actually walking. up to a Podium and speaking out and. pleading for a more nuanced view of all. of this for people to see the situation. for what it is and not reduce it to a. political talking point that's that's. right and you know in some ways.

Springfield could have been an. opportunity to discuss the challenges of. receiving large numbers of immigrants. instead it got flattened by a. presidential campaign trying to score. points at all costs and at the end of. the day that really makes it harder to. actually solve the the.

[Music]. problems Miriam thank you thank you. [Music]. Sabrina on Thursday morning Springfield. City Hall was evacuated after a bomb. threat was sent to City agencies schools. and media Outlets. authorities investigated the locations.

including with explosive detecting dogs. and determined that they were. safe but City Hall remained. [Music]. closed we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today the times reports that President. Biden appears on the verge of clearing.

the way for Ukraine to launch long-range. Western weapons deep inside Russian. territory as long as it doesn't use arms. provided by the United States the US had. held off on allowing the use for fear of. provoking President Putin from using. nuclear weapons on Thursday Putin issued. an unusually specific warning saying. that allowing Ukraine to use the weapons. will mean quote that that NATO countries. are at war with.

Russia and on Thursday the New York City. Police Commissioner resigned at the. request of City Hall after federal. agents seized his phone last week as. part of a criminal investigation in a. memo to the police department Edward a. kaban wrote that he resigned because the. news reports about that investigation. had quote created a distraction for the. Department the announcement came just a.

year after he was appointed by mayor. Eric Adams and underscores the chaos. swirling around the mayor's. Administration which has been royed by. four Federal investigations in recent. months resulting in searches and. seizures targeting high ranking. officials remember to catch a new. episode of the interview right here. tomorrow. this week Lulu Garcia Navaro talks with.

Demi Moore about her new movie the. substance in it Moore plays an actress. struggling with her aging body the. question is would you trade your wisdom. for a tight. ass and where do you land on that. question I would like to not have to. [Laughter]. choose today's episode episode was. produced by Nina Feldman AA chaturv and.

Rob zipco it was edited by Michael. benois and Mark George with research. help from Susan Lee contains original. music by Dan Powell and Marian Lozano. and was engineered by Chris Wood our. theme music is by Jim brunberg and Ben. lansburg of wonderly. [Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina.

taveri see you on Monday. [Music].