Immigration poses real problems that must be addressed, but the consumption of domesticated animals is unlikely to be one of them.
Donald Trump will save kittens from being eaten by Haitian immigrants in Ohio. Also, a few pigs made a trip to the moon and are reporting lush, balmy conditions.
Hyper-online conspiracy theorists only believe one of those statements to be true. AI-generated images of Donald Trump posing heroically with kittens and ducks went viral this week after an Ohio woman, Allexis Telia Ferrell, was allegedly arrested for killing a cat and eating it in front of her neighbors. Ferrell reportedly killed a cat by stomping on its head in Springfield, Ohio, and ate the animal “in a residential area in front of multiple people,” police said. Claims that Ferrell is a Haitian immigrant spread widely on social media following the incident, though the claims are wholly unconfirmed.
Vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance, from Ohio, said on X that “months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” Trump’s campaign said on X that “President Trump will deport migrants who eat pets. Kamala Harris will send them to your town next. Make your choice, America.” Republicans’ House Judiciary Committee joined in and posted on X a photo of Trump cuddling a duck and a kitten, saying “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!”
Twenty thousand Haitian immigrants have arrived in Springfield, a town that reported 58,000 residents during the 2020 census, in the past few years. Last year, a Haitian immigrant with an invalid driver’s license crashed into a bus on the first day of school, killing an eleven-year-old and wounding 23 children. Tensions between migrants and locals were strained before the crash, but in its aftermath, Springfield residents became more vocal in their concerns about the Haitian influx.
It’s unknown if Ferrell, who resides in Canton, which is almost a couple of hundred miles away from Springfield, is an immigrant, let alone an illegal immigrant. And if Vance and Trump believe that Ohio’s Haitian influx should be publicized and addressed, they should be more judicious in how they publicize and address it, especially if they’re going to accuse people of abducting and eating kittens. One of the photos that supposedly corroborates the “immigrant-eats-domesticated-animal” story line, a photo of a black man holding a goose, was posted to Reddit in July. Although social-media users have said that the photo was taken in Springfield and that the man is a Haitian immigrant, the Reddit user who posted the photo said that it was taken in Columbus and added that “I think it’s awful that right-wingers including Ohio’s Republican senator will take a random picture from the internet and use it as a weapon to further their agenda. The garbage they are spreading has been completely debunked, yet they continue to spread it.”
A Springfield city spokeswoman said that “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” Springfield’s police department hasn’t received credible reports of pets being stolen and eaten, it said. It appears that this is an online moment, fueled by racist and extreme nationalist undertones, that has been memed into reality.