For the past day, Viles Dorsainvil has been fielding all kinds of calls: some threatening, some demanding that he leave, others plaintive, still more worried.

Dorsainvil has lived in Springfield, Ohio, since 2020, and heads the Haitian Community Help and Support Center there, an organization that assists recent immigrants to the area. He’s part of a wave of 20,000 Haitians that, city officials say, have recently moved to the town, which had about 58,000 residents according to the 2020 census. Resentment toward the newcomers has been simmering among some longtime residents, Dorsainvil said.

But it wasn’t until Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) suggested in an X post on Monday that the Haitian community was abducting and feasting on local pets that the harassment spiraled out of control. (Springfield authorities have made clear that they have no reports that anything of the sort is happening in the town.)

“We get the threats through our telephones, people telling us get the F out of here,” Dorsainvil told TPM. “It happened since yesterday after the tweet of the vice president, the man running for vice president.”

It’s been a surreal experience for Dorsainvil, but Vance’s tweet seized on a conspiracy theory that has been bouncing around the right-wing echo chamber. The core allegation that Haitians in Springfield had “abducted and eaten” pets followed a meandering path, from local Facebook groups to the online, right-wing influencers that Vance follows, and onwards to the current vice presidential candidate.

It’s an example of the engine that drives modern right-wing politics: wild and false claims start off scattered across the internet, before being vacuumed up and boosted to mass audiences, sometimes by high-profile politicians whose status as public figures lends credence to what, only days before, had been random, unverified posts.

Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio.

Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar? pic.twitter.com/rf0EDIeI5i

— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 9, 2024

Local police immediately told media that they had no reports of pets being “abducted and eaten,” and Vance himself followed up by partly doubling down (HIV is on the rise in Springfield, Vance tweeted) while conceding that “it’s possible, of course, all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

The debate around the arrival of 20,000 Haitian immigrants to Springfield stayed mostly local until this month. Tensions spiked when, last year, a Haitian immigrant clipped a school bus while driving, causing it to swerve into a ditch. The crash left one child dead; the driver was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Videos from the city’s account show dozens of city commission meetings during the year following the incident at which angry local residents — often repeat speakers — complain about the influx of Haitians. Others say that the newcomers are welcome, but ask about the impact on city services.

Sen. Vance jumped into the fray in July, accusing the Haitians of depleting the town of its resources and claiming that they were there illegally.

The remark didn’t get much attention, though it fit with a theme for Vance. Later that month, during his speech at the Republican National Convention, Vance argued for a new version of American identity, one that clashed with the traditional idea of America as a “melting pot.” The country is not made up of people who believe in the same ideas, and it’s not necessarily open to those who share its values. Rather, Vance said, “it’s a people with a common history.”

In Springfield, events escalated in August.

A group of neo-Nazis pounced on the situation and staged a small rally. One man, who identified himself with a thinly veiled racial slur and said that he belonged to “Blood Tribe,” appeared at an August 27 meeting to say that “crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you bring in, and with it public frustration and anger,” before local officials had him removed.

What catapulted the story to national attention was an in-depth story by the New York Times, published last week, that quoted several local businesspeople and local officials detailing how local factories in need of workers drew immigrants, and how the influx of newcomers had strained public services like education and health care.

That, it seems, got the attention of higher-profile right-wing influencers.

On Saturday, several influential accounts on X, some followed by Vance, began posting about Springfield. Charles Haywood, an Indiana shampoo magnate with ties to the Claremont Institute who Vance follows, wrote the German phrase for “foreigners out,” adding “Using any and all force necessary.”

America for the Americans. Ausländer raus. Using any and all force necessary. https://t.co/IjtLBODcOe

— Charles Haywood (@TheWorthyHouse) September 7, 2024

Other accounts that Vance follows boosted the rumor over the weekend that Haitian immigrants were eating pets.

Vance himself tweeted his version of the rumor, pinning it on “reports,” on Monday morning.

To Dorsainvil, the entire situation is surreal.

He told TPM that he is here on temporary protected status, a policy that allows Haitians to live and work in the U.S. because it would be unsafe to force them to return home. The same TPS provision has been granted to Ukrainians, and it’s exactly what Vance criticized in his speech at the National Conservatism conference as another form of illegal immigration.

He never intended to stay, but continuing unrest in Haiti has prolonged his time in the U.S., Dorsainvil said.

“I would like my country to get back on track, for me to go back,” he said. “But as long as I’m here, I’m cool with that.”