By Kate Scanlon

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has repeated — without evidence — claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio.

But Vance’s fellow Ohio Republican officials have said such claims are false, and Catholic leaders have called for respect for migrants.

At a Sept. 10 debate, former President Donald Trump also repeated the viral, unverified claims — refuted by local authorities — about Haitian migrants, a largely Catholic population, living in the city of Springfield, Ohio, that accuses them of abducting pets and eating them.

In a Sept. 15 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance was confronted by anchor Dana Bash about that claim.

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.”

Asked by Bash to clarify what he meant by “a story that you created,” Vance replied, “we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.”

Vance’s comments prompted social media criticism, and he later took to social media to claim that “I didn’t invent constituents complaining about this. We did help create the media focus on their complaints.” But he provided no evidence of such constituent complaints.

Since the claims went viral, bomb threats have forced the evacuation and closure of colleges, public schools and municipal buildings, and prompted lockdowns at hospitals.

A spokesperson for Vance told NBC that the senator “condemns these threats and believes those responsible should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Vance’s fellow Ohio Republicans called the claims that Haitian migrants are kidnapping and eating pets false.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” “I think it’s unfortunate that this came up,” defending the local Haitian community as legal residents who “came to Springfield to work.”

“Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in. These Haitians came in to work for these companies,” DeWine said, adding, “What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy. Now, are there problems connected? Well, sure. When you go from a population of 58,000 and add 15,000 people onto that, you’re going to have some challenges and some problems. And we’re addressing those.”

Asked about the viral claim, DeWine said, “Look, there’s a lot of garbage on the internet and, you know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There’s no evidence of this at all.”

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, also a Republican, told Politico, “Any political leader that takes the national stage and has the national spotlight needs to understand the gravity of the words that they have for cities like ours, and what they say impacts our city.”

“And we’ve had bomb threats the last two days,” he added. “We’ve had personal threats the last two days, and it’s increasing, because the national stage is swirling this up. Springfield, Ohio, is caught in a political vortex, and it is a bit out of control. We are a wonderful city — a beautiful town. And for what it’s worth, your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio.”

Asked by Politico whether he intended to vote for Trump and Vance in November, Rue declined to answer the question but called himself “frustrated” with Trump’s remarks and how Springfield has become collateral damage.

“We have a big-hearted community, and we’re being smeared in a way we don’t deserve,” Rue said.

Credible estimates vary, but a few thousand immigrants from Haiti have settled in Springfield, Ohio, city officials said, and most have legal status. Most came as a result of a local Chamber of Commerce effort to revive Springfield as a manufacturing hub.

In a Sept. 9 statement — prior to the claim about Haitian migrants being made on the debate state but issued when it was going viral online — Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio said it “serves and empowers people through God’s love in their times of vulnerability.”

“We do so through a full range of local services that engage the community in building solidarity,” the statement said. “And we serve and bring hope to more than 19,000 people each year in 11 Counties in Ohio by providing a wide range of local services, including food assistance, senior and caregiver support, mental health counseling, family and parenting education, refugee and migrant services and much more.”

The statement added that earlier this year, the organization “for the first time introduced case management, immigration legal and interpretation services to migrant and refugee populations already living in the Springfield area.”

But the statement continued, “We have had no role in bringing migrants to the Springfield area. We do not offer resettlement services in Springfield. To say otherwise is a false explanation of the nature of our services. Those who wish to weigh in on the immigration system itself should contact their elected officials.”

“These newest services in Springfield emerged from the encouragement of government officials, other nonprofit organizations and community groups which have already been striving to address the situation in a manner that’s positive for the wellbeing and growth of the area,” it said. “However one views the current reality, we join with many other people of faith and goodwill in the community to cultivate a long-term positive outcome.”

Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, whose archdiocese has the largest Haitian immigrant community in the U.S., and who served as a priest at a Haitian parish for 18 years, told OSV News the Haitians in Springfield would be making a positive contribution through working jobs in the community.

“As a parish priest, I would often times see people when they would literally come off the boat, literally with their clothes still damp from the voyage coming from Haiti to the United States,” he said. “Then 10 years later they would be inviting me to bless their homes that they had just purchased. And then now they’re telling me about their kids that are graduating from college and joining different professions. So the Haitians come to the United States to succeed and they have.”

In a March statement about the church’s service to migrants in general, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati said, “There is no doubt we live in polarized times. Virtually every topic seems to be fodder for political division.”

“In such times, our Catholic faith can be tested even more intensely than usual, especially when our faith runs up against public policy. Of course, Catholic teaching is not just for the United States in the 21st century; it is universal and enduring,” he said. “When we strive to live our Catholic faith and pursue the common good, our work can alternatively be praised or attacked … and sometimes both at the same time.

“We experience this dynamic regularly in our advocacy for the unborn and pregnant mothers in need, for example. Now, we are facing vitriolic backlash online and even in some mainstream media for our care for our migrant brothers and sisters who, like everyone else in our communities, are children of God.”