Former President Donald Trump repeated a false and outlandish claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have abducted and eaten their neighbors’ pets.

Trump made the comments Tuesday early in his first debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, shortly after Harris mocked his rallies as so filled with fictions and fringe theories that attendees leave early. Trump responded by trying to pivot back to the subject under discussion, immigration.

“A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it,” he said. “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.”

Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, have amplified the internet rumor on the campaign trail this week. It stems from viral social media posts that have spread as Vance and others have sought to stir fears about the growing Haitian population in Springfield, though members of the community are living and working in the United States legally.

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