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STORY: "Donald Trump stood by debunked claims that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets, at a town hall with Latino voters hosted by Spanish-language network Univison, on Noticias Univision presents; Latinos ask Donald Trump responds."

:: Trump stands by false claims of immigrants

eating pets during a town hall with Latino voters

"My question is, with all due respect, do you really believe these people (migrants in Ohio) are eating other people's pets?"

:: October 16, 2024

:: Miami, Florida

TRUMP: "This was just reported, I was just saying what was reported, that's been reported and eating other things, too, that they're not supposed to be. But this is, all I do is report. I have not, I was there, I'm going to be there and we're going to take a look and I'll give you a full report when I do. But that's been in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly."

:: Trump also repeats false claims of people

sent to the US from 'mental institutions and jails'

"If you deport these people (undocumented migrants working in farming) who would do those jobs and how much would we pay for food?"

TRUMP: "A lot of the jobs that you have and that other people have are being taken by these people that are coming in and the African-American population and the Hispanic population in particular are losing jobs now because millions of people are coming in. So they're coming in, but they're also coming in largely and tremendous numbers coming in out of mental institutions. They're emptying out mental institutions, they're emptying out insane asylums, that's a step above a mental institution. Worse, bigger, bigger problems."

Trump in recent weeks has amplified a false claim that has gone viral that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing residents' pets or taking wildlife from parks for food.

There have been no credible reports of Haitians eating pets, and officials in Ohio - including Republicans - have repeatedly said the story is untrue.

At a town hall hosted by Spanish-language TV Univision, an undecided Mexican-born Latino Republican voter from Arizona, a battleground state, asked Trump in Spanish whether he truly believed that immigrants were eating pets.

Trump, who has not yet traveled to Springfield, has previously said he would conduct mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from the Ohio city, even though the majority of them are in the U.S. legally.

The city has faced bomb threats since Trump began repeating the false accusations about Haitians.

One town hall participant, a Mexican-born California farm worker who spoke of picking strawberries and broccoli for years, asked who would do hard farm labor if Trump goes through with his plans to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, and how that would impact food prices.

Trump did not answer directly and instead claimed African Americans and Hispanic Americans were losing their jobs because of illegal immigration. He also repeated baseless claims that Latin American countries were emptying out mental institutions and jails to send people to the United States.