Ted Cruz Condemned For Posting Racist Lie About Immigrants Eating Pets

David Moye

9 September 2024 at 5:16 pm·2-min read

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) didn’t exactly get a vote of confidence when he posted a racist lie about immigrants eating pets on Monday.

After Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance promoted a false news story alleging that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are supposedly abducting and eating pets, the Texas Republican decided to join in with his own anti-immigrant posts.

Cruz posted a meme with kittens that was captioned, “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us” and added three laughing emojis at the top, apparently for the lulz.

🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/96vvZhvuSv
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 9, 2024

Former President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers have demonized immigrants as rapists and murderers even though data shows that they break fewer laws than natural-born Americans. Springfield police debunked the rumor about pets being stolen and eaten on Monday.

Cruz’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s query about the falsehood he is spreading.

However, many people on X, formerly Twitter, called out the senator for trying, as one person put it, “to stoke partisan fears to win elections.”

The Springfield News-Sun article states there are no reports of pets being eaten. The rumor was started by a Facebook post claiming that their neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat and found it at a Haitian's home.
In the future, please use google before you post… pic.twitter.com/vCR3RkJWeh
— F e l l a Historian 🌻 (@thisuser_isdumb) September 9, 2024

Do you guys all get on a morning call to pick which immigrant nationality to focus on that day?

Friday: Venezuelans. Monday: Haitians. I mean…
— Marc Watley (@watley) September 9, 2024

@tedcruz You know you’re officially a loser when you’re running for office and you’re posting false information and memes.
— Thomas St James (@Thomasstjames3) September 9, 2024

Some commenters noted that people have demonized immigrants for decades by spreading inflammatory rumors about what they eat. (Cruz’s father is an immigrant from Cuba.)

Your realize white supremacist groups have been using this line for 50 years to attack Vietnamese immigrants and then the Cuban boat people, right? Why are you regurgitating this old racist trope? If it's true, are pets safe around you or should people hide them when you come by?
— Crazy Fenak (@CrazyFenaker) September 9, 2024

This crap goes back to Vietnamese refugees when I was a kid, Rafael. This is what you offer Texas and the country? It's also been debunked, not that you care. Weak, lazy, racist,xenophobic, Rafael. The GOP trifecta. https://t.co/cUgQzWMFJh
— Portia ♍️ McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) September 9, 2024

Podcaster Allison Gill noted that Cruz’s post coincidentally matched up quite nicely with Russian talking points cited in a recent DOJ indictment.

Hmm. This is on the list of Russian talking points. Interesting. pic.twitter.com/BqrIkJhyMO
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) September 9, 2024

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