WASHINGTON — President Biden rebuked former President Donald Trump Friday for claiming that Haitian migrants are eating dogs, cats and waterfowl in Ohio — pointing out that his chief spokeswoman’s family is from the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Biden, 81, spoke at a “black excellence” brunch on the White House lawn after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred to herself as “a proud Haitian American” in opening remarks, an apparent reference to Trump’s latest controversy.
“[There are] so many Americans like Karine — as she pointed out, a proud Haitian American, a community that’s under attack in our country right now,” Biden said at the start of his own remarks.
“It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America — this has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”
Jean-Pierre was born on the French island of Martinique to parents from Haiti and was raised in New York City.
Trump, 78, initially made the allegation that pets are being eaten by recently arrived Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, during Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“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,” the Republican presidential nominee said.
When pressed by debate moderator David Muir over denials from local officials, Trump claimed, “the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.”
Republicans have pointed to photos and reports of wild ducks or geese allegedly being taken by migrants and to an incident last month in Canton, Ohio, in which an American woman was arrested for eating a cat.
Trump’s claims unleashed a flood of memes showing dogs and cats supporting him and opposing Democratic nominee Harris, 59, who in early 2021 was put in charge of reducing illegal immigration, which instead surged to new record highs.
Although Biden chided Trump on Friday, he made notably more light-hearted remarks Wednesday at an event where the press was barred — joking after briefly donning a Trump hat in Shanksville, Pa., on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: “Just remember: no eating dogs and cats!”
