The woman behind the rumor that Springfield’s Haitian immigrants “eat pets” speaks out

Erika Lee, a Springfield, Ohio, woman who initially posted on Facebook alleging that local Haitian immigrants were “eating the pets,” sparking significant national attention to the small town, said she had no direct evidence to support the claim.

Amid the 2024 presidential election, where immigration is a hot-button issue, city officials have consistently debunked these rumors, but the claims gained even more prominence when former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, repeated them during the televised presidential debate Tuesday night.

“They’re eating the dogs in Springfield, the people who came here,” Trump said of Haitian immigrants. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people who live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a disgrace.”

Although Springfield officials and community leaders have tried to dispel these claims, tensions have risen and bomb threats were made on Thursday and Friday, prompting the closure of schools and municipal buildings.

“It just blew up and turned into something I didn’t want to happen,” Lee told NBC News on Friday.

Lee said the incident left her filled with guilt and anxiety because of the controversy it sparked. Her post detailed the disappearance of a neighbor’s cat and included her neighbor’s suspicions that her Haitian residents were involved in the incident.

According to NewsGuard, an organization dedicated to combating misinformation on the Internet, Lee was one of the first to spread the unfounded rumor on social media, screenshots of which were widely shared. The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, allegedly obtained the information about the alleged incident from a third party, NewsGuard found and NBC News reported.

Lee told NBC News he never imagined his post would become part of the national conversation while simultaneously spreading conspiracy theories and hate.

“I’m not racist,” she said, adding that her daughter is half-black and she herself is mixed-race and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “Everyone seems to be making it out to be that, and that wasn’t my intention.”

After a half-century of economic decline, Springfield worked hard to bring back manufacturing. The plan worked, creating jobs that eventually attracted immigrants. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Haitian immigrants have moved to the city, which had a population of just under 60,000 in 2020, in the space of four years, city officials say.

They are in the country legally, the city of Springfield’s immigration FAQ page says, many of them under the Immigration Parole Program, which, under certain conditions, allows noncitizens to remain in the U.S. temporarily without meeting standard visa or immigration requirements.

Lee acknowledged that Springfield is grappling with problems brought on by the population surge that unexpectedly hit the city. She said Springfield was not prepared to deal with challenges related to housing, health care and other services brought on by the rapid influx of new Haitian immigrants over the past five years. But she did not anticipate that her Facebook post could trigger a cycle of national news coverage.

“I didn’t think I would ever get beyond Springfield,” he told NBC News.

Lee also said that concerns for her daughter’s safety led her to withdraw her from school, as the intense focus on her family worried her. She also admits to feeling apprehensive about the Haitian community and says it was never her intention to demonize them.

“I feel sorry for the Haitian community,” she said. “If I were in the Haitians’ position, I would be terrified too, worried that someone would come after me because they think I’m harming something they love, and again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, argues that Haitian immigrants remain illegal because their legality has been achieved only “through abuse of asylum laws.”

But in an interview with NewsNation on Thursday, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said, “Under current federal policy, they’re here legally and there’s nothing to get them out immediately, so as a community, we’re trying to embrace them. I don’t want to be too optimistic about that; there’s a culture shock.”

Newsweek Magazine sent an email to the Trump campaign on Saturday morning to request comment.

Trump has promised mass deportations as part of his election campaign for months, vowing to use the military and local law enforcement to expel millions of illegal immigrants.

On Friday, after rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets were debunked, the former president vowed that his mass deportation plan would begin in Springfield and Aurora, Colorado, two cities that have been at the center of anti-immigrant talk this week.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” he said Friday afternoon. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”

At a news conference in Los Angeles, Trump also repeated claims that a Venezuelan gang took control of Aurora and vowed to send them “back to Venezuela.”

“The people of Colorado… they have a governor there who is very weak, he doesn’t know what to do,” he said.

In Aurora, apartment complexes had problems with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as members of the notorious group moved in and caused problems for Venezuelan residents and others.

City Mayor Mike Coffman said Newsweek Magazine Last Friday, police said the story had gotten out of hand and that the gang was not in charge of the apartment buildings. Police later identified the members of the group they knew.

Update 9/14/24, 11:28 a.m. ET: The title of this article has been updated.