Trump is currently leveraging the cat-consumption anecdote to his advantage.
Illegal immigration becomes a hot topic in the US election race. GOP criticizes Harris for not tackling the issue effectively. They launch a shocking smear campaign.
A couple of months before the US presidential election, prominent Republicans disseminated baseless allegations against Haitian immigrants living in the US, specifically in Ohio. Members of the House Judiciary Committee posted a misleading image on X, depicting the Republican candidate Donald Trump saving a kitten and a duck, with the caption "Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!".
Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, who hails from Ohio, claimed on X that Haitian illegal immigrants in Springfield were exhausting social services and causing turmoil. He suggested that pets were being "kidnapped and eaten by individuals who shouldn't be in this country", leading to the caption "Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don't eat us" being added to an image of kittens, posted by Senator Ted Cruz.
The Republicans appear to be exploiting these unsubstantiated incidents to disparage the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, implying that her inability to control illegal immigration while serving as vice president was detrimental. Immigration remains a crucial issue in the November 5th presidential election. Certain right-wing accounts on social media platforms circulated a news report about a woman in Ohio who supposedly murdered and consumed a pet cat.
Elon Musk joins the fray
Despite the absence of any verifiable links tying the incident to immigrants or the Haitian community, misleading images of the woman's arrest persisted, thanks in part to Elon Musk, the owner of X, who voiced his support for Trump's candidacy. Trump himself commented on his Truth Social platform, stating "20,000 Haitian immigrants were relocated to the tiny town of Springfield, Ohio". The city has been grappling with tensions surrounding social services, schools, and the housing market for years, with some attributing the problem to migration.
The Springfield police, however, refuted the unfounded accusations, stating that "there are no credible reports or specific allegations of pets being harmed, injured, or mistreated by individuals in the migrant community". The false information spread rapidly.
In the heat of the US presidential election, the Republicans continued their criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris' handling of illegal immigration, stating that her ineffectiveness in this area had serious consequences. During this time, several prominent Republicans, including Trump's running mate J.D. Vance, made inflammatory remarks about Haitian immigrants in Ohio, contributing to the hostile narrative surrounding immigration issues.
