Cat-eating migrants: Trump must stop, says Biden

The US President reacts to the statements made by the Republican candidate in his campaign against Kamala Harris – and fuelling fears.

Published today at 19:52

Donald Trump warns: The Republican should stop his attacks, said Joe Biden.

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta (Keystone)

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US President Joe Biden has decided to stop Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from insulting migrants from Haiti. “What he’s doing has to stop,” Biden said at a meeting in the White House on Friday. There is a “proud Haitian-American community that is currently under attack in our country.” There is “no place in America” for such comments, the president continued. “That is simply wrong.”

Biden referred to Trump’s continued false claims about the alleged theft and the eating of pets by Haitian migrants in the city of Springfield in the state of Ohio. Authorities there had stated that such allegations had no basis.

Nevertheless, Trump repeatedly used the conspiracy narrative to stoke fears about immigrants. In a TV debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, for example, the right-wing populist declared that immigrants were eating the dogs and cats of the residents of Springfield.

Trump’s statements resonate with his supporters: People during a rally for the Republican with an AI-generated image. (September 12, 2024)

Photo: AFP

Immigration is an important issue in the presidential election on November 5. Trump is relying on established anti-immigrant rhetoric in the election campaign. Springfield has around 58,000 residents and in recent years there has been an increase in immigrants from Haiti. A local newspaper estimated their number at 10,000 to 15,000.

The Caribbean state of Haiti has been plagued by political chaos and gang violence for years, especially in the capital Port-au-Prince, which has forced many people to flee.

Haiti’s government outraged

The claim made by US Republicans that migrants from the Caribbean state of Haiti are eating the pets of residents in the state of Ohio has now also drawn the attention of the government in Port-au-Prince. In a statement published on Wednesday, the Ministry for Compatriots Living Abroad criticized “discriminatory statements by US politicians about Haitians in the diaspora.”

Unfortunately, it is not the first time “that compatriots abroad have become victims of disinformation campaigns, stigmatized and dehumanized in order to serve electoral interests,” the statement said. In recent days, high-ranking representatives of the Republican Party in the USA had shared false claims about the theft and eating of pets by Haitian migrants in Ohio on online networks, thereby stoking fears about immigrants.

Trump ignored the statements of the authorities in Springfield, Ohio, who had stated that such allegations had no basis. The issue had arisen as a result of a media report about a woman in Ohio who allegedly killed and ate a house cat. However, the city’s police had also stressed that there was no evidence that this incident was connected to Haitian immigrants.

topicnews · September 13, 2024

Cat-eating migrants: Trump must stop, says Biden

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