WATCH: Tim Walz Drops the Gloves By Calling Out JD Vance’s Pet Eating Conspiracy Theories as Debate Gets Heated

Tim Walz kicked the vice presidential debate into high gear on Tuesday by laying into JD Vance for spreading false stories about migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Walz knocked Vance while answering a question on former President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations in his second term.

Walz accused Trump of not wanting to solve the border crisis and leaning into divisive politics by vilifying legal immigrants. Both Trump and Vance have spread the pet eating conspiracy theories, which were based on a false Facebook post and have since been shot down as fake news by town and state officials. Walz blasted Vance for spreading the stories, saying there were “real consequences” in that multiple schools were shut down over threats mentioning the false stories.

Walz also hit Vance over his defense in spreading the false story. Vance previously defended spreading the debunked story on CNN by saying if the story brings attention to actual issues related to migrants in Springfield, then creating a story that did that is worth it.

Walz said:

“And Sen. Vance and surprises me on this, talking about and saying I will create stories to bring attention to this. That vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield. The Republican governor said it’s not true. Don’t do it. There’s consequences for this. There’s consequences. We couldn’t come together. Sen. Lankford. We could come together and solve this if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make it an issue. And The consequences in Springfield were the governor had to send state law enforcement to escort kindergartners to school. I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point. And when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings.”

Vance did not directly respond to the pet eating stories, but instead said “American citizens” in Springfield are suffering from the “open” southern border. The conspiracy theories mainly related though to legal Haitian migrants.

Vance said:

“Governor Walz brought up the community of Springfield. And he’s very worried about the things that I’ve said in Springfield. Look, in Springfield, Ohio and in communities all across this country, you have schools that are overwhelmed, hospitals that are overwhelmed, housing that is totally unaffordable we because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. The people I’m worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border. It is a disgrace, Tim.”

Vance was later hit with a fact check by debate co-moderator Margaret Brennan when she said, “just to clarify, for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.”

Vance pushed back on this and eventually the mics were cut during the heated moment.

Watch above via MSNBC.