Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is turning to a well-worn playbook, seizing on baseless claims that Haitian immigrants living in a southwestern Ohio city are abducting and eating local wildlife and their neighbors’ pets, to stoke fears over migrants living in the United States.

On Monday, an official social media account of Trump’s 2024 campaign posted that “20,000 Haitian migrants were dumped into the small town of Springfield, Ohio. Here’s our Border Czar Kamala Harris bragging about bringing them to our country. ‘They need support.’”

Another post claimed that “President Trump will deport migrants who eat pets. Kamala Harris will send them to your town next. Make your choice, America.”

There’s no evidence to back up those claims. Karen Graves, a spokesperson for the city of Springfield, Ohio, said in a statement that “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

Even Trump’s Republican running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who helped promote the claims against Springfield’s growing Haitian population, acknowledged in a post on the social media site X on Tuesday morning that “it’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

But he then appeared to endorse cat memes that several high-profile Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, have promoted on social media, saying, “Please vote for Trump so Haitians immigrants don’t eat us,”...

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