Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Debunks Racist Pet-Eating Conspiracies

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine dismissed unfounded claims of Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio eating household pets as “garbage” on Sunday. “There’s no evidence of this at all,” he said on ABC’s This Week. The Republican governor defended the city’s Haitian community, telling Martha Raddatz “they’re here legally and they want to work.” DeWine’s comments come the same day that fellow Ohio statesman JD Vance seemingly took credit for the baseless dog- and cat-eating allegations. “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,” Vance told Dana Bash on CNN. Despite Springfield officials vehemently denying any evidence of such crimes, both Vance and Donald Trump—as well as GOP operatives and MAGA activists more broadly—have continued to trumpet false narratives about pet poaching, with the former president vowing to mass deport the city’s Haitian residents at a campaign rally on September 13. Conspiracy theories about the city have in recent days led to two schools being evacuated and one middle school in Springfield being closed over anonymous bomb threats.