Former President Donald Trump plans to visit Springfield, Ohio “soon,” a source familiar with the planning told NBC News.
The city has become the epicenter of a national political battle over immigration, with Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, spreading baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield eating dogs and other pets.
While the unsubstantiated claims have been circulating online in right-wing circles for weeks, the rumors became public knowledge last week when Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met for a debate in Philadelphia.
“In Springfield, [Ohio]”They’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a disgrace,” Trump said on the debate stage.
News of Trump’s visit comes as his ally Vivek Ramaswamy announced on X that he will visit the city on Thursday.
Officials in Springfield and Ohio have strongly condemned allegations that immigrants in the city are eating pets.
In a statement to NBC News on Monday ahead of the debate, Springfield police said “there have been no credible reports or specific allegations that pets have been abused, injured or mistreated by individuals within the immigrant community.”
On Sunday, Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine told ABC News there was no evidence that immigrants in Springfield were eating pets and that the conspiracy theories were “nonsense.”
“The Haitians that are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move and Springfield has really had a tremendous upswing,” DeWine added.
Since the debate, municipal buildings in the city have been targeted with bomb threats and immigrants in Springfield have reported feeling unsafe.
“We’re in a difficult time right now,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW” on Friday, adding that if Trump decides to visit Springfield, “it could be a difficult visit, a very difficult visit.”
Asked what he would say to Trump if he had the chance, Rue said, “We need help, not hate. And we need calm voices.”
On Sunday, Vance denied that his claims about the Haitian immigrants were unfounded, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press”: “I hear you say they’re unfounded, but I’m not repeating them because I made them up out of thin air.”
“I’m repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening,” he said. “It’s clear that these rumors are there because constituents are seeing it with their own eyes.”
Later, in an interview with CNN, Vance reiterated his comments from earlier that morning, criticizing the “American media” for not covering what he said was happening in Springfield.
“If I have to create stories that will actually get the American media to pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance said.
Asked what he meant by “creating”[ing] “stories,” Vance said. “I say we create a story, which means we create the American media that focuses on it.”
Asked whether she accepts that Trump and Vance’s claims are untrue, Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s daughter-in-law, told Fox News: “It’s not for me to decide. This information came directly from the people of Springfield. No one in our campaign — Donald Trump did not make this up.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
