The leadership of a small Ohio town where Donald Trump’s campaign team has amplified claims that migrants are eating pets and making animal sacrifices says there is no truth to these allegations.

In a statement to Newsweek A spokesman for Springfield, a city of 58,000 residents just outside Dayton, said Monday afternoon that there were “no credible reports” that pets or other animals had been injured or mistreated by members of the growing immigrant community there.

The clarification came after rumors had emerged in recent days that migrants, particularly members of the large Haitian diaspora, had killed and eaten pets and other animals.

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“In response to recent rumors that there may be criminal activity among the immigrant population in our city, we want to clarify that there are no credible reports or specific allegations that pets belonging to individuals from the immigrant community have been harmed, injured or mistreated,” the statement said.

The story apparently began with a post on a private Facebook page in which a woman claimed that Haitians had taken her friend’s cat, hung it from a tree and were dismembering it to eat it.

In August, a woman was arrested in Canton, about 200 miles away, after allegedly killing and eating a cat in a residential area. But this woman, 27-year-old Allexis Telia Ferrell, is an American citizen.

Although the incident was reported at the time, rumors surfaced again online over the weekend and early Monday, pushed by conservative commentator Charlie Kirk as well as Senators Ted Cruz and JD Vance, Trump’s running mate.

Rumors of broken duck necks also sparked conversation in Springfield and led to the spread of AI-generated images showing Trump rescuing the animals from harm.

Vance and others used the rumors to bolster the Trump campaign’s line of attack that the Biden administration’s border policy had failed.

On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost ordered his office to “explore legal options” to stop the arrival of new migrants because they are overwhelming the country’s resources.

“The problem is not the migrants, but far too many migrants in a short period of time,” Yost said in a press release. “The problem is a massive population increase without any communication or support from the federal government.”

Yost also claimed that migrants were causing car accidents, stealing livestock and killing wildlife for food, which the city also denied.

“In addition, there are no confirmed cases of immigrants committing illegal activities such as squatting or dumping garbage in front of residents’ homes,” the spokesman said. Newsweek.

“Furthermore, there are no reports that members of the immigrant community intentionally obstructed traffic.”

In fact, last year an immigrant was involved in a high-profile fatal car crash when the driver of a minivan plowed into a school bus on the first day of school, killing one child and injuring two dozen others. The driver was a recent Haitian immigrant who was driving with a foreign license, according to the New York Times.

The fact that the story spread like wildfire in Springfield, where around 20,000 Haitians have settled – legally – in recent years, showed once again how polarizing the issue of immigration is in the presidential election campaign – and that the Trump team is now heating up this issue in the home stretch.

Local officials in Springfield acknowledged that new arrivals from Haiti had helped revive the city’s ailing economy, but at the same time asked the government for more resources to resettle the Haitians.