Vilbrun Dorsainvil said he escaped his home country of Haiti after an attempt was made to kidnap him.
Three years later, he’s afraid for the safety of the community he lives in and his own safety in the U.S.
“Before I was not, but right now I can say I am afraid,” he said. “Right now, I’m afraid there may be a mass shooting on us. That would be terrible.”
Dorsainvil’s anxiety began during ABC’s September 10 presidential debate held in Philadelphia, when former President Donald Trump reiterated a discredited claim about Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs in this small city located roughly 45 miles west of Columbus, the state capital.
Trump mentioned “Springfield” on three separate occasions.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” he said.
“They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” ABC host David Muir fact-checked Trump onstage, stating that city officials had debunked that false claim.
“There have not been any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said.
Nothing could stop the chaos that followed.
On Sept. 12, Springfield City Hall shut its doors after a bomb threat “sent to multiple agencies and media outlets.” Rue informed The Washington Post that the threats “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community.”
On the morning of Sept. 13, the day following Trump’s repetition of the false claim at his Tucson, Arizona, rally, the Springfield City School District was forced to evacuate two elementary schools in response to an emailed threat. A middle school had remained shut down for the entire day due to separate threats.
PolitiFact said it visited Springfield to follow the aftermath of Trump’s misinformation in a county that he carried by 60% in 2020.
Many residents didn’t want to speak to news outlets because they were concerned about inserting themselves or their small businesses into the conversation.
Several residents informed PolitiFact that the number of Haitian migrants settling in the city has noticeably grown over recent years. In the past few months, some of those residents raised concerns about traffic safety and strain on local resources stemming from this influx. However, not one of them reported witnessing or having any evidence of individuals capturing and consuming pets or wildlife.
Emma Miller, a lifelong Springfield resident and small-business owner, said she and her husband launched an English as a second language course for their Haitian neighbors. Enrollment in the classes had been increasing.
“But this past week, only about half the people showed up because they genuinely didn’t feel safe leaving their houses,” she said.
The class was before the 2024 presidential debate aired on ABC.
How the Lie About Haitian Immigrants Began Online
A physician in Haiti before immigrating, Dorsainvil currently works as a nurse assistant at Springfield Regional Medical Center. Several weeks ago, while on the job, a colleague brought a Facebook rumor to his attention claiming that Haitians were consuming their neighbors’ cats and dogs.
Local news outlets report that the claim first emerged on Facebook in late August. A user stated that her neighbor informed her that her daughter’s friend had lost a cat, which was subsequently discovered “where Haitians live,” hanging from a tree branch and being butchered for consumption.
A company that tracks online misinformation, called NewsGuard, interviewed the original poster and she told them that she had no evidence that the event ever happened.
“When I heard this kind of stuff, I just laughed in my mind, because I know it’s not true,” Dorsainvil said. “It’s just nonsense.”
The rumor quickly gained traction online, eventually coming out of the mouth of a candidate for president of the United States during a televised debate.
