Eating Cats and Dogs: Baseless Accusations Resurface: Trump, Vance, and the Dangerous Stereotyping of Haitians

From Ohio to the Debate Stage: How JD Vance and Trump Fueled a Racist Trope

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — During the heated debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, a disturbing and deeply racist claim re-emerged into public discourse. Trump, never one to shy away from incendiary remarks, suggested that Haitian immigrants in the United States were responsible for the disappearance of pets, alleging they were eating dogs and cats.

This baseless and dangerous accusation, once relegated to the darkest corners of social media, was thrust into the national spotlight as Trump made it a central talking point in his attempt to dehumanize the Haitian community.

What makes this even more alarming is that the origins of this false rumor can be traced back to Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, who represents Ohio. Several months ago, Vance began stirring up these claims on Twitter, stating that his office had received numerous calls from concerned constituents alleging that their pets were disappearing, with Haitian immigrants supposedly to blame.

He further amplified this rhetoric by claiming that the community was behind these incidents, feeding into an age-old narrative of fear and xenophobia. Vance’s inflammatory tweets were soon followed by calls for investigations, and though no evidence has surfaced, the damage to the reputation of Haitian immigrants was done.

Historically, this type of anti-immigrant propaganda has been used to stoke fear and divide communities. We’ve seen it before—against Chinese immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As Chinese laborers moved to the U.S., contributing to the economy by working in mines and railroads, a wave of nativist sentiment targeted them with outlandish claims.

Among these accusations was the idea that Chinese people were eating American pets—pigeons, dogs, and cats—and posed a threat to American society.

These harmful myths laid the groundwork for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a blatantly racist piece of legislation that banned Chinese immigration for decades.

What began as slander in the media transformed into law, excluding a population from the country simply because of lies designed to portray them as inhuman.

Today, Haitian immigrants in the U.S. are facing a similar wave of vilification. Many Haitian immigrants are legally residing in the country, while some, due to desperate conditions back home, may be undocumented. Haiti has faced years of instability, corruption, violence, and natural disasters.

Earthquakes, hurricanes, political turmoil, and gang violence have left many Haitians with no choice but to flee their homeland.

For those who have come to America seeking a better life, they now find themselves unfairly painted as criminals in the eyes of some—thanks to figures like JD Vance and Donald Trump.

The idea that Haitian immigrants are somehow responsible for the disappearance of pets not only dehumanizes this community, but it also weaponizes racist tropes to stoke fear and distrust.

According to estimates, nearly 1 million Haitians live in the United States. The overwhelming majority are law-abiding residents contributing to society, yet they are now being cast as a threat based on an absurd, racist lie.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this tactic deployed, nor will it be the last. Throughout history, whenever a marginalized group has been painted as a threat, it’s often through narratives that describe them as less than human. Hitler, during his rise to power, repeatedly used dehumanization to target Jews. In his speeches, he described them as vermin, a plague that needed to be eradicated.

His carefully crafted rhetoric paved the way for the atrocities of the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were murdered after being portrayed as enemies of society. By portraying an entire population as unworthy of human compassion, totalitarian regimes have justified violence, exclusion, and genocide.

Donald Trump’s attempt to link the Haitian diaspora to the disappearance of pets echoes this strategy. When he speaks of immigrants as threats, as people so different from “us” that they would even eat our beloved dogs and cats, he is invoking the same kind of fear-based dehumanization. These are not just harmless words; they have the power to shape perceptions, to inflame hatred, and to justify harmful policies.

As JD Vance and Donald Trump continue to perpetuate these dangerous lies, we must recognize their playbook for what it is. It’s a tool of division, designed to pit us against one another, to make us see our neighbors—particularly those who look or sound different from us—as the enemy.

But we have a choice. We can either buy into these harmful narratives, or we can stand together, as global citizens, and uplift the dignity of all people, no matter where they come from or what their story is.

The Haitian community in the U.S., like so many immigrant communities before it, is here to seek a better life. They are not here to steal our pets, but to build their futures.

In times of such blatant dehumanization, we must resist the temptation to believe the worst in people and instead connect goodness, reaffirming our shared humanity. After all, history has shown us what happens when we fail to do so. Let’s ensure we don’t allow history to repeat itself.

Racist Lies About Haitian Immigrants and Missing Pets (Sept. 10, 2024)

#StopRacism #HaitianImmigrants #Debate2024 #AntiImmigrantTrope #Dehumanization #JDVance #StandForHumanity #GlobalCitizenship

TAGS: Donald Trump, JD Vance, Kamala Harris, Haitian immigrants, racism, Chinese Exclusion Act, anti-immigrant rhetoric, Haiti, immigration, Central Park, missing pets, debate 2024, xenophobia, social media