As Donald Trump fielded questions from a crowd of Hispanic voters at a town hall in South Florida on Wednesday, one man in the audience wanted to know: Does the former president really believe debunked claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, have eaten people’s pets?

Trump, who has repeatedly amplified the baseless claim about Haitian migrants in Springfield, said he was simply echoing “what was reported — that’s been reported,” before suggesting that those migrants are “eating other things too that they’re not supposed to be.”

“That’s been in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly,” Trump said, without identifying any particular source.

He then pivoted to a broader claim: that Haitian migrants living in Springfield have put an intense strain on the city and its resources and have quickly upended the lives of its residents. “I think you can’t just destroy our country,” Trump said.

READ MORE: Trump takes hard line on immigration at Hispanic voter town hall in Miami-Dade

The former president’s remarks in South Florida – the home of the largest Haitian community in the U.S. – underscored how Trump has refused to back down from a conspiracy theory that has been repeatedly rebuked by state and local officials in Ohio, including the state’s Republican governor, who penned a guest essay for The New York Times last month in which wrote that Trump’s “rhetoric hurts the city and its people.”

Jose Saralegui, the man who asked Trump on Wednesday about the claims about Springfield’s migrant community, went out of his way to remind the former president that “the authorities in Springfield, Ohio, have, more than one time, clarified that the Haitians are not eating their cats and their dogs.”

Trump’s comments also stand in stark contrast with his remarks during a visit to South Florida in 2016, when he told a small group of Haitian Americans at the marketplace adjoining the Little Haiti Cultural Complex that they shared “common values.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump to Haitian voters: I want to be your greatest champion

“Whether you vote for me or not I really want to be your biggest champion,” Trump said at the time.

Since then, Trump has made a series of disparaging comments about Haitians. In 2017, he reportedly said in a meeting with advisers that Haitians shouldn’t be allowed into the U.S., claiming that “they all have AIDS.” During a meeting with members of Congress in 2018, he derided Haiti and unspecified African nations as “shithole countries.”

Even in the minutes after his 2016 stop in Little Haiti, Trump reportedly quipped that he “‘really felt for these people,’” because “‘they come from such a shithole.’”

But unlike those remarks, which were largely made behind closed doors, Trump’s amplification of the debunked rumor that Haitian migrants in Springfield had kidnapped and eaten local wildlife and residents’ pets has thrust Haitian communities across the U.S. into the center of a very public debate over immigration and political misinformation.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign accused the media of trying to “distract the American people from the very real problems plaguing the residents of Springfield, Ohio,” claiming that the “sudden influx of migrants” to the city has overwhelmed public health and education services and created “public safety concerns.”

“President Trump will continue to talk about making America safe again,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said.

“Racist and xenophobic attacks”

In South Florida, home to over 300,000 people who identify as Haitian, Trump’s remarks have sparked outrage. Vanessa Joseph, a Haitian-American immigration attorney and North Miami City Clerk, described the comments as “racist and xenophobic attacks” that vilified immigrants.

“The Haitian community in South Florida and across the U.S. has proven itself to be one that is hard working, compassionate, but most importantly, deeply engaged in our communities – including civically,” she told the Herald over text message.

She said that before the resettling of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, the town was facing serious economic problems and population decline.

“The arrival of Haitian people to Springfield contributed to the city’s economic revitalization – they provided a labor force that was in significant demand. Instead of detracting from the community. They should be seen as helping to address some of Springfield’s long standing challenges,” she said.

Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat who represents large swaths of Palm Beach and Broward Counties and currently serves as the only Haitian-American member of Congress, told the Herald in a statement that “repeating false reports does not make them true.”

“It’s crucial to note that these harmful lies don’t just affect Haitian immigrants but all immigrants and misrepresent the global Black community and what America stands for. As a presidential candidate, he should be committed to protecting all Americans. His divisive rhetoric is un-American; it’s clear he will never represent the values that truly make America great,” she said.

Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping to seize on Trump’s rhetoric to court Haitian-American voters in Florida. Hours before Trump’s town hall began on Wednesday, the Florida Democratic Party announced a new six-figure investment in advertising and organizing efforts targeting the state’s Haitian population.

The new spending comes after some prominent members of South Florida’s Haitian community expressed concern that Democratic Party officials weren’t doing enough to reach and mobilize the state’s hundreds of thousands of Haitians who are eligible to vote.

READ MORE: ‘A community in crisis.’ Florida Haitians feel attacked by Trump, overlooked by Harris

Joseph said that the focus should be “on creating systems of support for all immigrants, rather than on spreading fear and division” and issues that affect all Americans, such as housing, healthcare, and education.

“Let’s focus on uplifting the communities we serve by investing in resources, fostering a genuine sense of community, and promoting accurate and respectful discourse about the contributions of immigrants, instead of relying on harmful rhetoric.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2024, 6:17 PM.