Michael Steele Says Everything Was Just Fine In Springfield Until Trump Discussed Pet-Eating Rumors

MSNBC analyst Michael Steele said on Wednesday that the residents of Springfield, Ohio, were “accepting” of the Haitian migrants until Republican nominee Donald Trump alleged that they were eating pets.

Steele said on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance are trying to appeal to their alleged “racist” base by spreading unproven reports that the Haitian migrants are stealing and eating pets. He said the residents were content with the migrants and embraced them before these rumors came about.

“This is the truth of the matter. There weren’t story headlines coming out of Springfield before this that said, ‘Oh, you know what, America? We have a problem here in this small town,’” Steele said. “And that is what I think we really lose sight of when these moments occur is that before, folks were accepting these migrants, and they were integrating, and they were working, and they were productive until J.D. Vance and Donald Trump decided to other them and turn their lives and the lives of that town upside down.”

A viral social media post placed in a Springfield Facebook group alleged that a resident witnessed a dead cat hanging from a tree branch in their Haitian neighbor’s yard in preparation for a meal, though that allegation has not been proven. Another resident named Anthony Harris alleged, without providing further evidence, that migrants are stealing, beheading and eating ducks located in their local parks during a local commission meeting in August.

Police bodycam footage captured 27-year-old Alexis Telia Ferrell eating a cat in front of her neighbors in Canton, Ohio, further sparking rumors that migrants are eating residents’ pets. Authorities arrested her on Aug. 16 for eating the animal “in a residential area in front of multiple people,” according to Fox 12.

Residents of the community told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the influx of migrants has caused a housing crisis, a surge in crime and they have even witnessed public sex acts. Barron Seelig, a local non-denominational pastor, said the migrants have wrecked cars and caused several accidents in the community.

Hermanio Joseph, a Haitian national driving a minivan without a license, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars in May for swerving in front of a school bus and killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark in August 2023.

Some residents have shifted blame toward the Biden-Harris administration for the ongoing crises in their community after putting in place a migrant flight program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV) to allow “safe and orderly pathways to the U.S.” for hundreds of thousands of nationals.