It should surprise no one that David Yost is lying about Haitian immigrants.
The latest Republican nontroversy: Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are kidnapping people’s pets…and eating them. It sounds stupid and insane because it is.
Stemming from Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sen. JD. Vance (R-OH) (who himself is no stranger to internet controversy), the claim comes from a smattering of social media posts from white supremacists,, neo-Nazis, and Republicans.
Not 30 minutes, after Vance made this claim, Springfield’s local newspaper published a story, citing local law enforcement, debunking the xenophobic narrative and stating that police had zero evidence of Haitian migrants eating residents’ pets. In accordance with the Sun Sentinel, both the City Manager and mayor both came out saying this racist conspiracy theory is simply untrue.
Despite this being an objectively racist and nonsensical smear against an marginalized group, Ohio Attorney General David Yost continued to give it oxygen. To quote the Ohio Capital Journal; “Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday did his bit to amplify a conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants legally present in Springfield, Ohio are stealing and eating pets, ducks and geese.”
That Yost is actively fanning the flames of an unfounded moral panic is unfortunately unsurprising. In February 2021, he attacked President Biden in a letter for ostensibly ending Operation Talon, an ICE initiative focused on apprehending and removing sex offenders illegally living in the U.S. The only problem is that his letter was based on completely false reporting. Operation Talon was never canceled, just postponed, and the decision to do so was made by ICE officials, not Biden.
Yost also sued the Department of Homeland Security in November 2021 for supposedly hindering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with a new rule that reprioritized apprehension and removal resources towards noncitizens that pose the most serious threats to public safety. And earlier this year, he led a coalition of 22 other state’s attorney’s generals to file an amicus brief in support of Greg Abbot and Ken Paxton’s flouting of the Constitution through unilateral enforcement of their own border policies.
(You’d probably be far from astonished to learn that Yost also joined in the right-wing moral panic about critical race theory being taught in grade schools—which has ultimately led to attempts to ban the subject’s teaching in Ohio.)
Whether or not Yost actually believes these latest lies about Haitian immigrants is unimportant. Heightened xenophobia dovetails nicely with the AG’s constant pursuit of more ruthless immigration policy.
Yost has a history of anti-Immigrants smears, but this has taken things to the logical fever pitch. Yost joining the likes of Vance, Trump, Laura Loomer, and other far-right Republicans led to a bomb threat against Hatians in the community. As we often note, state’s Attorneys General are important and merit greater scrutiny.