Fox News is perpetuating a baseless story about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, abducting and eating geese, despite Springfield’s mayor saying that there are no “credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” 

Conservative outlet The Federalist published a story on September 10 claiming that it obtained a recording of a call made to police “reporting a group of Haitian migrants carrying four geese in Springfield, Ohio two weeks ago.” 

The original right-wing claim, which was reportedly taken from a post in a Springfield Facebook group, was that Haitian migrants were kidnapping and eating cats and ducks. Local officials have flatly denied this story, with Ohio's Republican Gov. Mike DeWine saying that “this is something that came up on the internet, and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes.”

Journalist Steven Monacelli reported that The Federalist “didn't quote law enforcement, who told me they have no other evidence of such claims.” Monacelli also spoke with the person who supposedly made the phone call to police, saying that he “was just reporting [a potential crime] like anyone else,” in reference to hunting geese without a permit. 

Last night, Fox News prime-time host Jesse Watters complained that “the media won’t play you that 911 call and they won’t investigate the story at all, because if they did they would have to report on the dangerous migrant payload Kamala unleashed on Springfield.” 

Watters also interviewed Mark Sanders, the Clark County GOP vice chairman identified by Fox as simply a local “resident,” who claimed that “our geese [and] our ducks population is nearly decimated” in Springfield. Neither Watters nor his guest offered any concrete evidence of this happening.

As a result of these false claims, Springfield received bomb threats “to multiple facilities,” which forced the city to evacuate City Hall, services like the Springfield Driver’s Exam Station, and elementary schools.