Biden breaks his silence on claims migrants are eating cats and dogs with a swipe at Trump

President Joe Biden criticized Donald Trump for spreading false reports of migrants eating pets, saying it was leading to attacks on the Haitian community.

The 'Haitian American community is under attack right now,' Biden said Friday at the White House during an event for Black Excellence.

He called on Trump to stop making such statements.  

'There's no place in America for this. It has to stop. What he's doing has to stop,' he said.

It was Biden's first direct comments on the issue, which caught fire during Tuesday's presidential debate, when Trump made the false allegation.

Trump, during his debate with Kamala Harris, called out Springfield, Ohio, by name and said: 'They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there.'

The debate moderators pointed out that city officials have said the claims are not true. 

Trump has doubled down on his comments that migrants in Springfield City, Ohio, are eating pets. The false rumor has spread on the internet and lead to threats in the community.

Springfield City has issued a statement saying there have been 'no credible reports' of pets being harmed by the Haitian community. 

Last week, officials in Springfield City had to shut down city hall because of bomb threats. The threat repeated the misinformation as it mocked the Haitian people and said the bombs, which was in several city buildings, would detonate in hours.

Eventually the all-clear was given. 

Rob Rue, the mayor of Springfield, Ohio, said that the bomb threat made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools, and other buildings in the community was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city's Haitian community, following Trump's stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents' pets are being eaten.

Rue said such allegations are 'hurting our city.' 

Trump has continued to push the issue.

He posted a flurry of posts on his Truth Social account Thursday afternoon containing several memes of AI-generated images of cats holding signs in support of his campaign.

'Don't let them eat us, vote for Trump,' one AI image showed with cats holding the red and blue sign.

Another showed a sad cat with a sign reading 'Kamala hates me.'

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also slammed the former president accusing migrants of eating pets, saying 'lives were in danger' because of his false claims.

She described Trump's comments were 'hate speech.'

'What is happening here is an attempt to tear apart communities and disrespect,' she said. 'And it is spreading filth that makes the lives of the communities that are being smeared here. It puts their lives in danger and it is just hate speech. That's what it is.'

She added: 'Maybe we should not have leaders who fall for fake internet conspiracy theories. We should think about that.'