Springfield grapples with false cat-eating rumours – and real problems

A week after Donald Trump’s comments at a presidential debate thrust this city in south-west Ohio into the national spotlight, community members are still struggling at times to separate fact from fiction.

The cameras have mostly been put away, the Proud Boys have gone home, and the town of Springfield, Ohio seems to have reached a shaky, temporary peace.

The only sign of the chaos of this past week is state troopers guarding local schools, called in by Ohio Gov Mike DeWine after nearly 30 bomb threats against schools and government buildings. State authorities say the threats have mostly come from outside the US, but their exact origin – and who’s behind them – is still a mystery.

If there’s one thing that most people are certain about here, it’s that the rumour that kicked everything off – that Haitians are regularly capturing and eating pet cats and dogs – is false.

At first glance Springfield looks like a typical small midwestern city.

Its virtues include stately homes from the city’s heyday, a few busy downtown blocks, an art museum, a leafy campus and a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house. But not far away are areas full of decaying strip malls backed by blocks of boarded-up houses and threaded through with chewed-up, potholed streets.

Springfield’s population had been declining for decades before a few years ago, when Haitians were drawn here by the relatively low cost of living and the promise of work in local factories. City estimates of the number of Haitians here range from 12,000 to 20,000, in a city previously home to about 60,000, according to the 2020 census.

Business owners and some residents have welcomed the newcomers, but some have complained about rent increases, strains on local schools and hospitals and dangerous drivers.

Tensions were amplified last year when a car driven by a Haitian immigrant hit a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy.

And then in recent weeks came the cat rumours. They began with a YouTube clip containing a second-hand account and a Facebook post attributed to the friend of the daughter of a neighbour. The woman behind the post recently retracted her account, saying she looked further into the story and determined it wasn’t true.

But the idea that Haitian immigrants were eating pets – allegations that have long been lobbed at a variety of immigrant groups in many countries – had already gone viral. They spread to right-wing accounts with big followings, until they were repeated online by Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, and by Trump during last Wednesday’s debate.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” he said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats.”

Following the debate, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a Republican, told BBC Newsnight people need to better understand “the weight of their words and how it can negatively affect communities”.

It’s unclear why Trump mentioned dogs – the online rumours focused on cats and also on wild ducks and geese. Local police have not recorded any cases of pets being devoured.

Independent, right-wing and pro-Trump news sources searched for evidence, in some cases offering rewards for proof of cat abduction. So far no evidence of pet eating has come to light.

Despite the false claims, Trump’s comments put Springfield in the national spotlight, increasing tensions between the Haitian community and local residents.

Haitians here talk of a sense of fear created by the misinformation.

Laura Koveleski, 26, grew up in the city and along with her Haitian mother runs a business providing translation and other services to the immigrants. She recounted a number of incidents of harassment – beyond the bomb threats – which she says have created a climate of fear and paranoia.

“Haitians, who have just been minding their business, going to work and coming home, are now terrified to walk on the streets or to gather together,” she said.

She also said the immigrant community has been unfairly portrayed as “illegal”.

The city says most of the recent immigrants are legal asylum seekers who have been granted Temporary Protected Status, which gives them permission to work and receive social benefits.

At the same time, many long-term residents fear their concerns are being dismissed out of hand because of the cat-eating falsehoods.

One resident who did not want to give his name told the BBC that the Haitians were being taken advantage of, being charged high rent and offered lower wages – with corresponding knock-on economic effects for the existing population.

“They’re being used,” he said. “They’re not getting treated good at all.”

But “everybody’s cats are safe, dogs are safe,” he added.

He suggested that Haitians, who have been encouraged to move here by some local businesses to help with post-pandemic labour shortages, are being exploited by businesses and government officials.

Rumours that white vans have been transporting more migrants here continued to worry some residents.

In reality, the vans are factory transportation vehicles taking workers to jobs.

At Haitian restaurant Rose Goute in the south of Springfield, businessman Jacob Payen says life for Haitians like him has become “complicated” in the last week.

“A lot of people are living in fear they don’t even want to go out to the grocery stores, and that bothers me, because it wasn’t like that before,” he said.

Mr Payen, 46, who runs a religious and spiritual goods store and helps out at Rose Goute, first emigrated to Florida where he lived for two decades before moving to Springfield three years ago.

“The whole place was looking like a ghost town. It was abandoned,” he recalls.

When he first heard the rumours, he says, he thought “maybe somebody’s joking, or maybe somebody is doing a prank on the community”.

“But then we hear it from the former president and his vice-president (nominee). Then it becomes serious,” he said.

Mr Vance, in an interview with CNN, said: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

He then clarified that he based his statements about pet-eating on “first-hand accounts from my constituents”.

The Ohio senator, who grew up about 50 miles (80km) away from Springfield, has not given further details. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Vance and Trump’s comments have brought a flurry of attention on this city that has only just started to let up.

Dozens of bomb threats, many against schools, have set many Springfield families on edge.

“I think they need to leave the schools out of it,” said one mother outside Spring Hill Elementary School on Tuesday.

A local cultural fest, which was supposed to celebrate diversity, has also been cancelled.

Several far-right groups appeared here, including a weekend rally by the Proud Boys, but those groups seem to have moved on.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, said he may return for a campaign rally, and some residents say they’re worried that if that happens, it will start things up again.

But while these outside forces have been felt in the town, it’s local conflicts that are on everyone’s mind.

Driving through town, I witnessed a car crash involving a Haitian woman and an elderly local. The Haitian woman’s car flipped over. She and her small baby were taken to hospital for evaluation, but nobody involved was seriously injured.

It was unclear who exactly was at fault but one of the women in the local’s car was adamant that the Haitian driver had run a red light.

Shaken from the car crash, she said: “Haitians, they need to go back, all of them.”

Ms Koveleski, who runs the translation and advice service with her Haitian mother, said she understands the concerns of long-time locals – she is one herself. But she recounted a number of stories of harassment and assaults against of Haitian immigrants since last Wednesday’s debate.

“There’s a woman who came into my office with her small son, who’s probably around four years old, and she just wanted a one way ticket (away from Springfield) because she’s terrified of someone killing her son,” she said. “She says in the area that she lives in she gets people yelling at her. She knows it’s hateful, but she doesn’t understand what they’re saying.”

One possible positive outcome of the focus on Springfield, she said, is that it might prompt state and federal authorities to deliver funds to support projects, such as a youth center, that would benefit all residents.

“Haitians are terrified and locals are angry, but now that we have national attention, we can seek federal help, and this can do big things for the town,” she said.

And Mr Payen said he feels heartened by the response from many non-Haitians. He’s kept a careful eye on Rose Goute’s clientele over the past week and says more than 90% have been non-Haitians.

“They trying to see what the food tastes like,” he says. “But they’re also coming to support us as a community.”