'It has to stop': Biden slams Trump for false pet-eating conspiracy about migrants
WASHINGTON ? President Joe Biden forcefully condemned Donald Trump's peddling of a false conspiracy that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating the pet cats and dogs of residents, warning the former president and Republican nominee to stop.
Biden, in remarks Friday at a brunch on the White House South Lawn celebrating "Black excellence," said the Haitian-American community is "under attack in our country right now" as he addressed the right-wing conspiracy.
"It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America. This has to stop what he’s doing. It has to stop," Biden said.
Although Biden did not explicitly mention Trump by name, it was clear who the president was referencing. During Tuesday night's debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump promoted a conspiracy that circulated first online among conservatives.
More: As Ohio town hit with bomb threats, Trump keeps posting lies about migrants eating pets
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs," Trump said at the debate. "The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there."
Two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated, and a middle school was closed Friday morning, following threats while the city has become an election-year target.
More: Schools evacuated in Springfield, Ohio, after Trump's false pet-eating claim during debate
Springfield officials have said the accounts are false. But Trump has doubled down on the conspiracy, with his campaign sharing computer-generated memes of Trump embracing dogs and cats and another that shows a cat holding a sign that reads, "Kamala hates me."
Trump vowed Friday that if elected to a second presidency he would conduct "large mass deportations from Springfield, Ohio," that will be "bringing them back to Venezuela." Haitian migrants in Springfield – a population that has grown to 15,000 in three years amid unrest in Haiti – are in the country legally and are not from Venezuela.
More: Photo of man holding dead goose not taken in Springfield, Ohio | Fact check
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration "obviously" opposes Trump's deportation threat against the Haitian migrants in Ohio. She has criticized Trump's attacks against the Haitian migrants as "repugnant," "un-American" and "racist poison."
"Political leaders should not be attacking vulnerable communities," Jean-Pierre said. "That's not who we should be. And if they're going to fall for conspiracy theories online, maybe they shouldn't be our leaders."
Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden demands Trump 'stop' false migrant pet-eating conspiracy