By MEG KINNARD Associated Press
Donald Trump and his running mate on Friday continued to disparage Haitian migrants in an Ohio community, further fueling false claims the Republicans have promoted even as the city saw bomb threats and school evacuations and local officials called for a cooling of the anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said Friday during a news conference in California, adding that he could possibly hold a campaign event or town hall in the city and claiming the migrants are “destroying the way of life.”
Ohio authorities have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support the debunked allegations circulated this week by both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, that Haitian immigrants are eating domestic pets and birds in the city’s public parks.
The Springfield resident who posted the now-deleted social media post that sparked the controversy told NBC News for a story that aired Saturday morning that the post was based on a misunderstanding and was not accurate.
Trump mentioned the false claims during a debate Tuesday with his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, prompting her to laugh and call the GOP presidential nominee “extreme.”
After city agencies were targeted in a bomb threat, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue on Thursday called on politicians to tamp down the rhetoric.
“All these federal politicians that have negatively spun our city, they need to know they’re hurting our city, and it was their words that did it,” Rue said in an interview with WSYX.
A city spokesperson said an emailed threat claimed that bombs had been planted in the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials. A second email claimed that bombs had been placed at locations including Springfield City Hall, a high school, a middle school, two elementary schools and the local office of the state motor vehicles bureau.
The buildings were evacuated, and authorities with explosive-detection dogs swept and cleared them, officials said.
On Friday, President Joe Biden said the Haitian community is “under attack” right now, and called for an end to Republicans’ comments.
“It’s simply wrong. There’s no place in America,” Biden said while speaking at a White House luncheon. “This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”
Trump suggested Friday that local officials aren’t being truthful about the problem because of its severity. While he stated the “real threat” of immigration is happening at the Southern border, he said, “The people of Ohio are scared.”
In a post on X on Friday Vance stated, without evidence, that Springfield has experienced “a massive rise in communicable diseases, rent prices, car insurance rates, and crime.”
“Don’t let biased media shame you into not discussing this slow-moving humanitarian crisis in a small Ohio town,” he said.
Vance repeated those claims in another X post later Friday, though he added: “Nothing justifies violence or the threat of violence levied against Springfield or its residents. We condemn both.”
Trump and his supporters have used the furor over migrants in the Ohio community to draw further attention to Trump’s signature campaign issue of immigration reform and blame Harris for an influx of migrants into the U.S. It’s a theme that Trump has used throughout his bids for public office.
The situation surrounding Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000 located west of Columbus, started with an online post that was fueled by right-wing actors on social media. Vance amplified the posts from his own X account.
“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” Vance posted Monday on X.
“Where is our border czar?” Vance asked, referring to a label that some used to reference Harris, whom Biden tapped to deal with some issues related to immigration in 2021.
In a later post, Vance said his office “has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants,” adding, “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”
Springfield has seen its Haitian population grow in recent years. It’s impossible to give an exact number, according to the city, but it estimates that Springfield’s entire county has an overall immigrant population of 15,000.
The city also says that Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows them to remain in the country temporarily. Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence.
Following Vance’s initial post, the internet subsequently exploded with AI-generated imagery of Trump appearing to rescue dogs, cats and birds from harm, with Trump posting several of the memes to his own Truth Social account.
Trump repeated the claim during Tuesday’s debate.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said Tuesday. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
Debate moderators pointed out that city officials have said the claims are not true.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine — whose family operates a charity in Haiti in honor of their late daughter, Becky, who died in a car accident — said this week he would add more law enforcement and health care resources to an aid package the state has already provided to Springfield. DeWine said the Haitians who have moved to Ohio are generally hard-working people who love their families and who are seeking to escape the violence in their home country for good jobs in the state.
On Wednesday, DeWine said that he believed the Springfield mayor’s assessment that the claims were unfounded, telling CBS News that the internet “can be quite crazy sometimes.”
There have been other responses, including from the father of an 11-year-old Ohio boy killed last year when a Haitian immigrant driver hit a school bus. At a Springfield City Council hearing on Tuesday, Nathan Clark implored Trump and other politicians to stop invoking his son’s name in the immigration debate.
Democrats have addressed the situation, with the Democratic National Committee pushing out a fundraising email on Wednesday with the subject line, “Chaos, cats, and conspiracy.”
Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania, Chris Megerian in Washington, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.