Anna Kilgore, a resident of Springfield, Ohio, who had accused a Haitian family of stealing her cat, has finally found her pet on the basement of her home.
She had already filed a complaint with the local police against her Haitian neighbors.
The case quickly caught the attention of Senator JD Vance’s team, determined to prove the racist and unfounded allegations of Donald Trump and his supporters.
The latter claimed that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating pets, particularly cats. These accusations emerged against a backdrop of rising anti-immigrant sentiment, fueled by Trump’s statements during a presidential debate.
According to a “Wall Street Journal” report cited by “Business Insider”, Vance’s team relayed what they considered evidence to support these rumors. They relied on a police report in which Anna Kilgore accused her Haitian neighbors of potentially stealing her missing cat. The senator’s team hoped this incident would lend credibility to widespread accusations aimed at the local Haitian community.
However, upon investigation, a Wall Street Journal reporter found Miss Sassy, Kilgore’s cat, in good health. Kilgore, who initially reported the disappearance, apologized to her Haitian neighbors after finding her cat a few days after the report was filed. Wearing pro-Trump clothing, she used a translation app to express her regrets to her neighbors, whom she had wrongly accused, Wall Street Journal reported.
While Kilgore apologized, Donald Trump, JD Vance, Elon Musk and their supporters continued to support their racist accusations against Springfield’s Haitian community.
JD Vance, Republican vice-presidential candidate, defended his decision to continue circulating the false accusation against Haitian citizens in Springfield.
In a CNN interview with Dana Bash, he admitted to using memes and false narratives to draw attention to the supposed influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield. “The U.S. media totally ignored it until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance said. “If I have to create stories to get the media to pay attention to the suffering of the American people, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Under pressure from the reporter, Vance claimed the rumors came from his own constituents. He pointed out that Springfield residents had told him of their concerns about Haitian immigrants. “Senator Vance has received countless messages from Springfield residents about the devastating effects of Kamala Harris’ immigration policies: shortage of affordable housing, strain on public resources, decline in public safety and rise in communicable diseases,” a Vance spokesperson told *Business Insider*. “It’s shameful that the media is ignoring these concerns while deliberately misrepresenting the senator’s comments.”
Despite Vance’s claims, local officials have repeatedly refuted the rumors. Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told the Wall Street Journal that a member of Vance’s staff contacted him on September 9 to ask him to confirm the stories of animal theft and consumption. “He asked me directly, ‘Are the rumors about pets being stolen and eaten true?’” explained Heck. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to back that up. I told them these claims were unfounded”, according to an article published by Business Insider.
Despite this clear denial, Vance’s team continued its disinformation campaign. By the time the team contacted the city manager, Vance had already posted messages on social networks about the affair. Shortly afterwards, Trump relayed gun-toting cat memes on Truth Social, further fanning the flames of controversy. The climax came during the presidential debate, when over 67 million Americans heard Trump rehash these unfounded accusations, putting the situation in the national spotlight.
The incident involving Anna Kilgore illustrates how rumors and false information can quickly gain momentum in small communities like Springfield, where tensions are already high. These rumors about Haitian immigrants came to a head after Trump’s incendiary statements at the debate, when he said, “They eat the animals of the people who live there.”