Haiti condemns bogus claim about US pet-eating migrants pushed by Trump

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haiti’s government on Sept 11 condemned “discriminatory remarks” made by US presidential candidate Donald Trump and other Republicans, who spouted debunked claims that

Haitian migrants were eating pet cats and dogs in the state of Ohio.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that compatriots abroad have fallen victim to disinformation campaigns, been stigmatised and dehumanised to serve electoral political interests,” the government said.

“We firmly reject these remarks, which undermine the dignity of our compatriots and could endanger their lives,” it added.

Several Republican figures this week circulated claims that Haitian migrants were killing and eating the pets of residents in Springfield in Ohio – accusations that the city’s manager said had no basis in fact.

On Sept 10, Trump repeated the bogus claims

in his televised presidential debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris,

which was watched by tens of millions of people in the US and around the world.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs – the people that came in – they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump, the former US president, said.

When ABC News debate moderator David Muir debunked the claim to him, Trump insisted that he had seen “people on television say their dog was eaten”.

Mr Elon Musk, the owner of X, has also used his social network to help circulate the baseless claims, which quickly garnered attention in the US, where two-thirds of households own pets. AFP