星空无限传媒 is partnering with 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 . "We need to deport illegals, not invite them to wreak havoc on our communities."
Moreno is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Moreno鈥檚 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鈥檚 a claim that has been debunked by , the and even fellow Ohio Republicans. PolitiFact rated social media posts about the claim on Sept. 9, and Trump鈥檚 debate claim on Sept. 10.
Moreno鈥檚 claim is similarly inaccurate.
We contacted Moreno鈥檚 campaign, and spokesperson Reagan McCarthy did not address our questions about the migrants eating pets claim. Her statement focused on the migrants鈥� immigration status.
RELATED: Ohio voter guide: What to know about the 2024 election
The unfounded reports appeared to have originated with a social media post by Erika Lee, a Springfield resident, , a company tracking online misinformation.
Lee told NewsGuard she posted on Facebook about a neighbor's daughter鈥檚 friend who came home from work to find a pet cat butchered and hanging from a tree in a Haitian neighbor鈥檚 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 .
"I didn鈥檛 think it would ever get past Springfield," Lee said in the interview.
Vance was unapologetic 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鈥檚 "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鈥檚 what I鈥檓 going to do."
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine bluntly called the claim untrue on ABC鈥檚 "This Week."
RELATED: Overseas threats target Springfield after Trump and Vance lied about Haitians eating pets
"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 there are no credible reports that Haitians are stealing neighbors鈥� 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 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 , Sept. 9, 2024
Associated Press, "," Sept. 11, 2024
Columbus Dispatch, "," Sept. 11, 2024
PolitiFact, "," Sept. 9, 2024
PolitiFact, "," Sept. 11, 2024
NewsGuard, "," Sept. 12, 2024
NBC News, "," Sept. 13, 2024
CNN, "," Sept. 15, 2024
ABC News, "," Sept. 15, 2024
Email exchange with Moreno spokesperson Regan McCarthy, Sept. 13, 2024
USCIS.gov, , accessed Sept. 18, 2024
