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CNN —

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance acknowledged Tuesday that it’s possible the false claim that Haitian immigrants are abducting the pets of Springfield, Ohio, residents might not be true, but he encouraged his followers to continue posting “cat memes.”

“In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” Vance posted on X

“Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here,” Vance continued, also pointing to the impact migration has had on health and education services.

Vance appeared to be referring to an incident last year in which an 11-year-old child was killed in a bus crash in Springfield involving a Haitian immigrant driver who had a foreign license that was not valid in Ohio, as reported by The New York Times. The driver involved has been convicted of first-degree felony involuntary manslaughter and fourth-degree felony vehicular homicide, according to the Springfield News-Sun.

The Times reported that city officials estimated an influx of as many as 20,000 Haitian immigrants to the town in recent years. The report said the arrivals overwhelmed community health clinics, which saw a 13-times increase from 2021-2023, and put a strain on housing and...

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