COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Monday there’s no evidence to support the claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating stolen dogs, cats and geese.
While Yost, a Republican, refused to go as far as to say the rumor former President Donald Trump, the GOP candidate for president, amplified during the debate last week is false, he said in an interview there’s no reason to believe that it’s true.
“I have zero evidence that that’s happening,” he said.
Before and after the debate, both national and state-level Republican officials have lent creedence to Trump’s claims or criticized those who say they’re false. The acrimony falls on the small city of Springfield, where thousands of migrants have settled temporarily after legally being admitted to the U.S. Yost, a candidate for governor in 2026, has vowed to pursue legal action, though he hasn’t said what.
But does Yost believe there’s any truth to the claim about migrants eating pets and geese, which have been refuted by local officials?
In an interview, Yost suggested there is some limited evidence that Haitians are eating geese stolen from a park but not cats and dogs. At other points he seemed to contradict himself and say there was no evidence of geese being eaten either. He criticized media for confusing a lack of supporting evidence with writing off the possibility entirely. He compared the question of whether he believes Haitians are eating cats, dogs or park geese to asking whether he believes in Jesus Christ as his lord and savior.
City officials, police and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have all been quick to say there’s no truth to the rumors. But Yost isn’t leaping to conclusions.
“If you ask me as a prosecutor, I’ve got to tell you that that sounds untrue to me, because I live and die by proof,” he said. “But, if you ask me to prove the faithfulness of my wife, I can’t prove the faithfulness of my wife. But I believe in it. So, I don’t like your question at all. Because I believe in lots of things, and I don’t have proof that would be sufficient for a court or even a newspaper reporter. Do you believe in things you can’t see?”
He later questioned the relevance of what he believes to be true.
Springfield over the past few years has experienced a surge in population due to Haitian immigrants, granted temporary legal status by the federal government given widespread violence in their home country. Trump and his vice presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, have spotlighted the issue, circulating the refuted claim that Haitians are eating the dogs, cats and geese – claims several Haitians and locals have deemed racist and politically exploitative in interviews.
Since the debate, a swarm of bomb threats have prompted closures and evacuations of several schools, hospitals and government buildings around Springfield. City Mayor Rob Rue, in several interviews including with ABC6 in Columbus, has blamed national Republican politicians for the bomb threats.
“It was their words that did it,” he said. “When a federal politician has the stage, and they don’t take the opportunity to build up the community instead of inadvertently not understand what their words are, what they’re going to do to the community, it can really hurt the community like it’s hurting ours. We’ve been punched in a way we should not have been punched.”
Some other highlights from the interview with Yost, modestly edited for length and clarity.
Springfield’s mayor’s comments blamed national Republican rhetoric for the bomb threats. Is he right?
“The assumption that these things are tied together is a dangerous assumption. The truth of the matter is, based on the most recent information I have, is we don’t know who’s doing this yet or what the motivation is.”
“Before we start making assumptions, just as you have properly pointed out, and I have agreed that I have no evidence of pets being eaten, maybe you should be cautious about where you cast responsibility for bomb threats. It’s a serious crime in Ohio, a second-degree felony. My message is, to whoever is doing it, for whatever reasons, knock it off. But at the end of the day, the responsibility for a bad act rests with the person who does the bad act. Mere words never justify a criminal act.”
Do you agree with Trump that Haitians in Springfield should be deported?
“I agree that illegal immigrants should be deported from wherever they have come.”
Right, but these are legal immigrants, here under temporary protective status.
“That makes it a different question. I am an officer of the law. I am bound by the law. Unless their status changes – I think there would have to be a legal change for that to go forward.”
With no evidence to support the rumor, do you think it’s racist for people to claim that Haitians are eating cats and dogs?
“You just asked me to take an entire subclass of people, people who think that may be true, and asking me to categorize them as all having the same motivations. I think that falls apart as absurd under its own weight.”
“The racist generalization is the one that you just made about white people. Come on, be fair.”
“I think people have different reasons for saying and thinking what they do. I don’t think it’s fair to classify them all as one way or another.”
It’s clear from what you wrote on X and some of your comments that you do not think highly of how the media has approached both the cats-and-dogs aspect of the story along with the big picture concept of immigration. What is the media missing here?
“There are some people in the media that are collapsing all these different stories into one story and saying because there’s no evidence of the cats-and-dogs part of the story, that the whole thing is … a conspiracy theory … or racist … or xenophobic … that’s what I’m reacting to. There’s substance here of schools that are being overwhelmed with non-English speaking students that they weren’t prepared for in terms of fiscal capacity or teachers. There are impacts on the health care system that does not have enough doctors or nurses to handle this increased demand. There are impacts on the county and state social service networks with more than 4,000 people, immigrants receiving public assistance. Those things deserve to be debated. And not on the backs of the human beings that are in this situation. This is the result of an incredibly unplanned, mismanaged immigration policy at the federal government level, that has fallen to rest on a small town of good-hearted people trying to help those in need.”
Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
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