A 2016 social media post resurfaced this week from Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), in which he called the MAGA leader "reprehensible" over his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
CNBC's Carl Quintanilla posted a screen capture of a post on X, then known as Twitter, from Vance saying, "Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this, I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us."
The resurfaced post comes as Vance and Trump perpetuate a racist and baseless conspiracy theory published by The Federalist, which obtained an audio recording of a 9-1-1 call. In it, a man alleges he saw a Haitian immigrant eating a neighbor's pet. The police report explained that officers deemed the allegations unfounded, and the city manager had spoken in an attempt to quell racist hysteria.
"In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” the statement from manager Bryan Heck said.
Vance told NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcindor, "No one has spread false claims. What they've said is that a small migrant community — 20,000 — so it's big for the city of Springfield — but it's small compared to all Haitians in America."
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) counts the number as closer to 15,000, WCMH reported.
"That that small migrant community has caused a lot of problems. It's lead to higher rates of communicable diseases, that's a verifiable fact," Vance claimed.
Communicable diseases are things like the Flu, E. coli, Salmonella, Chickenpox, Measles and other viruses. Children in the United States are typically vaccinated against some of those, but those from poor nations don't always have access to healthcare.
While the governor is giving the Clark County Health Department supplemental aid, Republican Attorney General David Yost told WCMH that the problem isn't the immigrants. Rather, it's that the influx was large and took place over such a short period of time.
Still, Vance maintained, "People's pets are going missing. Many of my constituents have said that has been happening." While Vance may have calls from constituents saying that is happening, it is not being replicated in calls to police and verifiable crimes.
When Alcindor confronted him about officials dispelling the myths, Vance claimed it wasn't true. He claimed that the city manager only claimed "there was no verifiable proof," while people in the town said differently. The police department backs up the city manager.
After the reports went viral, the Springfield News-Sun reported the Springfield Police Division confirmed there have been no reports
