Springfield, Ohio resident Erika Lee, whose Facebook post alleging that Haitian immigrants were eating pets became a viral GOP conspiracy, now claims that she "didn't mean" for the claim to "explode" like it did.
Republicans have spread hateful rumors about Haitian immigrants "eating cats" after former President Donald Trump made outrageous, racist, and patently false claims during last week's presidential debate.
Trump promoted the unfounded allegation that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were consuming household pets in response to a question about immigration:
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, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
Moderator David Muir swiftly corrected Trump when he repeated the debunked claim that gained traction online after right-wing social media accounts spread the unfounded story, despite no actual evidence supporting it. Muir pointed out that officials in Springfield, Ohio, including the city manager, confirmed no such incidents of cat-eating had occurred.
The story circulated just a short while prior after Lee made the following claim in a neighborhood Facebook group:
"Warning to all about our beloved pets [and] those around us!! My neighbors informed me that her daughters [sic] friend had lost her cat. She checked pages, kennels, asked around, etc."
"One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked toward a neighbors [sic] house, where Haitians live, [and] saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you'd do a deer for butchering, [and] they were carving it up to eat."
"I've been told they are doing this to dogs, they have been doing it at Snyder Park with the ducks [and] geese, as I was told that last bit by Rangers [and] police. Please keep a close eye on these animals."
You can see the post below.
Erika Lee
Newsguard, a media watchdog that tracks online misinformation, discovered that Lee was one of the first to post about the rumor on social media, with screenshots of her post spreading across the internet. According to NewsGuard, Lee's neighbor, Kimberly Newton, said she learned about the incident from a third party.
Lee, in an interview with NBC News, now claims she never intended to spark a national controversy, saying that her daughter is half Black and she herself is mixed race and LGBTQ+:
“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen. ... I’m not a racist, Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent.”
“I feel 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.”
Lee acknowledged that Springfield faces genuine challenges due to its rapid population growth, which has overwhelmed the struggling city. Over the past five years, the arrival of many Haitian residents, many of whom have protected status under federal law, has left Springfield unprepared to meet the increased demand for housing, healthcare, and other essential services.
She said:
“I didn’t think it would ever get past Springfield."
But it was pretty clear many think Lee's response is too little too late.
Local police and city officials have consistently stated that there is no evidence of such crimes in Springfield, but the false claims have continued to spread.
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced at a Monday news conference that the Ohio State Highway Patrol would be deployed to monitor schools in Springfield following 33 bomb threats made since late last week.
On Monday, two colleges switched to virtual learning, and two elementary schools were evacuated due to separate threats. So far, none of the threats has been found to be credible, DeWine said.
Beginning Tuesday, 36 state troopers from the mobile field force will be stationed at all 17 school buildings in the Springfield City School District. The troopers will sweep the buildings before classes begin and stay on campus to ensure security throughout the school day and after dismissal.
