Politics & Government

PolitiFact: U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno pushes unfounded migrant pet-eating narrative

WOSU 89.7 NPR News | By PolitiFact

Published September 19, 2024 at 10:34 AM EDT

Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno speaks to supporters during his primary election night watch party. — Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to supporters during his primary election night watch party in Westlake, Ohio, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

WOSU Public Media is partnering with Politifact to provide fact-checking reporting in Ohio for the 2024 campaign.

U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno joined fellow Ohioan, Republican Sen. JD Vance, in claiming Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

"Kamala Harris and Sherrod Brown are responsible for flooding Springfield, Ohio with thousands of illegal Haitians who are sucking up social services and even reportedly killing and eating pets," Moreno said in the caption of a Sept. 9 Instagram post. "We need to deport illegals, not invite them to wreak havoc on our communities."

Moreno is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Moreno’s claim came a day before former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, repeated it during the presidential debate against Harris, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee.

It’s a claim that has been debunked by numerous fact-checkers, the Springfield mayor and even fellow Ohio Republicans. PolitiFact rated social media posts about the claim False on Sept. 9, and Trump’s debate claim Pants on Fire on Sept. 10.

Moreno’s claim is similarly inaccurate.

We contacted Moreno’s campaign, and spokesperson Reagan McCarthy did not address our questions about the migrants eating pets claim. Her statement focused on the migrants’ immigration status.

The unfounded reports appeared to have originated with a social media post by Erika Lee, a Springfield resident, according to NewsGuard, a company tracking online misinformation.

Lee told NewsGuard she posted on Facebook about a neighbor's daughter’s friend who came home from work to find a pet cat butchered and hanging from a tree in a Haitian neighbor’s yard. However, Lee told NewsGuard she did not know the owner of the cat or have any proof immigrants were involved in its disappearance.

Lee deleted the Facebook post and recanted the claim in a Sept. 13 interview with NBC News.

"I didn’t think it would ever get past Springfield," Lee said in the interview.

Vance was unapologetic in a Sept. 15 CNN interview about initially spreading the hoax.

"The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes," Vance told Dana Bash, host of CNN’s "State of the Union." "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."

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine bluntly called the claim untrue during a Sept. 15 appearance on ABC’s "This Week."

"Look, there's a lot of garbage on the internet," DeWine said. "This is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There's no evidence of this at all."

A city spokesperson told PolitiFact there are no credible reports that Haitians are stealing neighbors’ pets to eat.

Moreno is also incorrect that all of the migrants are in the country illegally. Since 2023, some Haitians have come to the U.S. through a federal immigration parole program that allows people from four countries including Haiti to request to come to the United States legally. They can be paroled into the United States for up to two years.

The immigration parole program was a Biden-Harris administration executive action that did not involve Brown, despite Moreno’s inclusion of him in the statement.

Our ruling

Moreno said in an Instagram post that "illegal" Haitians in Springfield are "reportedly killing and eating pets."

The claim about migrants eating pets is unfounded, with a city spokesperson saying there are no credible reports it’s happening.

Further, many of the Haitians entered the U.S. legally under a federal immigration parole program that allows them to come to the United States.

We rate the statement Pants on Fire!

Our Sources

Bernie Moreno Instagram post, Sept. 9, 2024

Associated Press, "Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets," Sept. 11, 2024

Columbus Dispatch, "The truth about Springfield, Ohio: Are immigrants eating dogs as Trump says? What to know," Sept. 11, 2024

PolitiFact, "Authorities rebut claims that Haitian immigrants are eating cats, waterfowl in Ohio town," Sept. 9, 2024

PolitiFact, "Trump repeats baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets," Sept. 11, 2024

NewsGuard, "Triple Hearsay: Original Sources of the Claim that Haitians Eat Pets in Ohio Admit No First-Hand Knowledge," Sept. 12, 2024