Trump and Vance’s triple-decker lie sandwich about Haitians, Venezuelans, and ‘migrant crime’

Back in 2015, Donald Trump kicked off his presidential campaign at Trump Tower by branding immigrants from Mexico “rapists” and drug dealers, and nearly a decade later, his anti-immigration views have only gotten stronger.

In recent weeks, he and running mate JD Vance have been spreading unfounded, often racist claims about Haitian and Venezuelan migrants, part of a larger false narrative about an unprecedented “migrant crime” wave in the U.S. which is not actually occurring, which they allege is a consequence of Kamala Harris’s time in a “border czar” role she never actually had.

Trump and Vance may not be telling the whole truth, or much of it at all, but the comments are revealing nonetheless. They’re a signal of what a Trump-Vance presidency might look like, where the candidates have promised an unprecedented and “bloody” crackdown on migrants inside the U.S.

Most recently, Vance has joined in on an unfounded, racist rumor that migrants from Haiti are abducting and eating pets in his home state of Ohio.

“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance wrote on X on Monday.

“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”

The claim appears to have its roots in a post from a Springfield-based Facebook group, later parroted by far-right activists and neo-Nazis online before it reached Vance and other prominent Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz.

The Springfield police said on Monday they’d received no reports of pets being stolen or eaten, though Vance’s office insisted to The Independent that the senator has been receiving a “high volume of calls and