Haiti condemns bogus claim about US pet-eating migrants pushed by Trump

Haiti's government on Wednesday condemned "discriminatory remarks" made by US presidential candidate Donald Trump and other Republicans, who spouted debunked claims that Haitian migrants were eating pet cats and dogs in the state of Ohio.

"Unfortunately, this is not the first time that compatriots abroad have fallen victim to disinformation campaigns, been stigmatized and dehumanized to serve electoral political interests," the government said.

"We firmly reject these remarks, which undermine the dignity of our compatriots and could endanger their lives," it added.

Several Republican figures this week circulated claims that Haitian migrants were killing and eating the pets of residents in Springfield in Ohio -- accusations that the city's manager said had no basis in fact.

On Tuesday, Trump repeated the bogus claims in his televised presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris, which was watched by tens of millions of people in the United States and around the world.

"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs -- the people that came in -- they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there," the former US president said.

When ABC News debate moderator David Muir debunked the claim to him, Trump insisted that he had seen "people on television say their dog was eaten."

The owner of X, Elon Musk, has also used his social network to help circulate the baseless claims, which quickly garnered attention in the United States, where two-thirds of households own pets.