The small city of Springfield, Ohio, has become the center of debate after Donald Trump highlighted some of the problems residents have reported facing in the wake of an influx of Haitian migrants arriving there.
During the debate, Trump referenced reports that local wildlife and even neighborhood pets are being killed by migrants, which led to a real-time fact-check by moderator David Muir and a media firestorm since.
Lost in the outcry, however, are the many other troubling allegations the people of Springfield have made during recent city council meetings. They include property damage, violent behavior, theft, and more. On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by commentators Buck Sexton and Steve Deace to discuss the controversy in Springfield and what the media isn’t covering.
How It Started
At Tuesday’s presidential debate, the topic of immigration and border security came up. Harris was asked about why the Biden administration hasn’t done more to curb the surge of migrants entering the country illegally and Trump was asked why he did not support the bipartisan border security bill that failed in Congress.
During his answer, Trump raised the issue of what is happening in communities like Aurora, CO, with Venezuelan gangs and Springfield with Haitian migrants:
TRUMP: …And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame…
Muir immediately corrected the former president. “I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio,” he said. “ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
The media has since seized on Trump’s “eating the pets” line, but there is much more to the story.
What Residents Are Saying
Springfield is a city of 58,000 people about 45-miles west of Columbus that, according to officials, has seen a surge of 20,000 Haitian migrants under the Biden-Harris administration. Residents have been reporting an uptick in crime, car accidents, and overall bedlam since their arrival. There have also been allegations of animal cruelty.
“We’ve now spent three days arguing about whether cats are being killed… I don’t know what is real, but I know that poor city is overwhelmed,” Megyn said. “And you want to know how I know? Because we watched that entire city commissioner meeting, not just the most incendiary sound bites… of the guy claiming that ducks are being beheaded and eaten from the local pond. There is also a 911 call of people saying they are stealing geese and killing them. There is also a Facebook post of somebody saying they skinned a cat and hung it up like a deer – unverified, but it’s there.”
At recent Springfield City Commission Meetings (which you can watch on the city’s YouTube channel), concerned citizens spoke candidly about what they have been facing in recent years. @EndWokeness has highlighted some of the testimony on X, including a man who spoke about ducks being killed:
A woman lamented how unsafe her neighborhood has become:
Another woman spoke about a confrontation she had in a local grocery store:
A third emotionally shared the story of her mother-in-law who was killed by a migrant:
Sexton said what is being reported by these residents is sad but not surprising. “All these things that [they’re] saying that [they’re] dealing with are not surprising to anyone who has been to countries that are as poor as Haiti,” he said. “It always falls on the working class. It falls on people who just bought their first home, who have been saving up for years, and now it’s in their neighborhood, in their schools, in their local hospital and [the response is], ‘Deal with it. If you have a problem with it, you’re a bad person.’”
Media Silence
In the wake of Trump’s debate comment and Muir’s interjection, Harris laughed off the notion these types of things are happening in the United States. The media reaction has been similar, but Deace said politicians and the corporate press can’t get away with feigning ignorance anymore.
“One of the beauties of social media… is everyone has no excuse… Cognitive dissonance is no longer permitted,” he said. “If they saw our cat memes… then they saw these kinds of testimonies that we shared as well. And so it’s very simple: Why don’t they just go there, find these people, interview them, and see if there is any factual basis to their claims?”
Megyn agreed. “They are just zeroing in entirely on the dogs and the cats and the geese… at the expense of all the human stories,” she said. “They don’t care. They just want to fact-check Trump on that one thing and ignore… all of the carnage happening in that city and beyond because [Harris] needs to win.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 886 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.