SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Once again, the small town of Springfield, Ohio was a topic of discussion during a nationally televised debate.
Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met Tuesday night for the first and only vice presidential debate of this election cycle. During a discussion on immigration, both Vance and Walz spoke about Vance's previous claims about Springfield's immigrants.
In September, Vance shared a viral post claiming a Springfield woman found her cat hanging from a branch in her Haitian neighbor's home being carved up to be eaten. Trump repeated those claims during the Sept. 10 presidential debate, stating that immigrants in Springfield were "eating the dogs. They're eating the pets."
The woman who posted the claim spoke to the site Newsguard — as did her neighbor, who said she learned about it from "a source that she had" and commented, "I don't have any proof." The post was deleted and in an interview with NBC News, the woman said she felt for the Haitian community.
"If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do," she said.
Walz noted during the VP debate that the intense attention surrounding Springfield negatively impacted its residents.
"That vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield," Walz said. "The Republican governor said it's not true ... there's consequences to this ... and the consequences in Springfield were the governor had to send state law enforcement to escort kindergartners to school."
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has denounced the false rumors, saying there is no evidence of it. Springfield's city hall, several schools and offices were forced to evacuate after receiving bomb threats. Ohio State Highway Patrol was also stationed at schools every morning.
Vance responded by saying that Springfield's community is overwhelmed because "we brought in millions of illegal immigrants."
"The people that I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris' open border," he said.
Moderators stated that Springfield's community has a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status.
Vance responded by saying they were granted legal status "at the wave of a Kamala Harris' open border wand."
Springfield leaders we spoke to said the growth of the Haitian population has overwhelmed their health care system and caused housing concerns or speeding concerns, but said the migrants are there legally and there are "no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities."
You can read their full comments here.
