On Monday, JD Vance dived face-first into a racist and xenophobic conspiracy theory when the GOP vice presidential nominee promoted a false allegation that Haitian immigrants in Ohio have been eating people’s pets. This aligns with other “fear the brown people” rhetoric pushed by Donald Trump and his cringe-inducing running mate.

In the lead-up to Election Day, the Trump-Vance campaign has ramped up its anti-immigrant bigotry by using rhetoric and imagery quite literally befitting the Ku Klux Klan. The former president, for example, has spread lies about armed immigrant gangs taking over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado — a claim he doubled down on Friday even after it was debunked by local police. Trump also told attendees at Friday’s rally in Wisconsin that immigrants will take their homes if he’s not elected — and that, with migrants and crime, people are not even safe attending his rallies.

For his part, Vance last week spread the grotesque lie that Kamala Harris is allowing cartels to engage in child sex trafficking in the U.S. The Ohio senator’s post on X about Haitian immigrants fit this sickening trend.

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

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

But in reality, Ohio is not the “Birth of a Nation”-esque hellscape that Vance tried to depict. As the Springfield News-Sun reported Monday, local police have received no such reports of pet-eating Haitians … or of anyone eating stolen pets, for that matter.

As the Springfield News-Sun reported Monday, local police have received no such reports of pet-eating Haitians … or of anyone eating stolen pets, for that matter.

Meanwhile, this bigoted conspiracy theory had merely been boosted by the likes of Charlie Kirk and Elon Musk. And it also was pushed by the X accounts for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

There’s certainly some irony to note here. If there’s one party that has shown a willingness to excuse gruesome pet killings, it’s the party that counts South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as one of its members. But the truth is a mere inconvenience for the Republican Party, whose members have shown a disturbing willingness to portray immigrants of color as uncivilized beasts unfit to walk among us.

Ya’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”