Donald Trump and his running mate continued to smear Haitian migrants in an Ohio community on Friday, further fueling Republicans’ false claims as the city grappled with bomb threats and school evacuations and local officials called for a reduction in anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“We will be doing massive deportations from Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said Friday at a news conference in California, adding that he might hold a campaign rally or town hall in the city and claiming that the migrants are “destroying the way of life.”
Ohio authorities have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support debunked allegations spread this week by both Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, that Haitian immigrants are eating pets and birds in the city’s public parks. Trump made the 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 officials were targeted by a bomb threat, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue called on politicians on Thursday to tone down the rhetoric.
“All of those federal politicians who have negatively impacted our city need to know that they are damaging our city, and it was their words that did that,” Rue said in an interview with WSYX.
A city spokesman said one email threat claimed bombs had been placed in the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials. A second email claimed bombs had been placed at locations including Springfield City Hall, a middle school, a high school, two elementary schools and the local office of the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
The buildings were evacuated and authorities searched and cleared them with bomb-sniffing dogs, officials said.
On Friday, President Joe Biden said the Haitian community is currently “under siege” and called for an end to the Republicans’ comments.
“It’s just wrong. There’s no place for it in America,” Biden said at a White House luncheon. “This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”
Trump suggested Friday that local officials are not being honest about the problem because of its severity. While he said the “real threat” from immigration is at the southern border, he said, “The people of Ohio are scared.”
In a post on X on Friday, Vance claimed, without evidence, that Springfield has seen “a dramatic increase in infectious diseases, rents, auto insurance premiums and crime.”
“Don’t let a biased media shame you into talking about this slow-moving humanitarian crisis in a small town in Ohio,” he said.
Trump and his supporters have used the commotion over migrants in the Ohio community to draw more attention to Trump’s main campaign issue: immigration reform. They have also blamed Harris for the influx of migrants into the United States, a theme Trump has used repeatedly in his bid for public office.
The situation surrounding Springfield, a city of about 60,000 west of Columbus, began with an online post fueled by right-wing actors on social media. Vance amplified the posts from his own X account.
“Reports now show that people’s pets have been kidnapped and eaten by people who don’t belong in this country,” Vance posted on X on Monday.
“Where is our border czar?” Vance asked, referring to a label some have used to refer to Harris, whom Biden tapped to handle some immigration issues in 2021.
In a later statement, Vance said his office has “received many inquiries from actual Springfield residents who have said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife have been abducted by Haitian migrants,” adding, “It is, of course, possible that all of these rumors turn out to be untrue.”
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 County as a whole has a total immigrant population of 15,000.
The city also says Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows them to stay temporarily. Last month, the Biden administration granted temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States, saying conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe to return. Haiti’s government has expanded a nationwide state of emergency due to endemic gang violence.
Following Vance’s initial post, the internet exploded with AI-generated footage of Trump rescuing dogs, cats and birds from danger. Trump posted several of the memes to his own Truth Social account.
Trump repeated this claim during Tuesday’s debate.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came here are 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 disgrace.”
The debate leaders pointed out that city officials have said the claims are untrue.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine — whose family runs a charity in Haiti in honor of their late daughter Becky, who died in a car crash — 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 hardworking people who love their families and are escaping violence in their home countries for good jobs in the state.
On Wednesday, DeWine said he believed the Springfield mayor’s assessment that the claims were unfounded, telling CBS News that the Internet “can be pretty crazy sometimes.”
There have been other reactions, including from the father of an 11-year-old Ohio boy who was killed last year when a Haitian immigrant struck 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 sending out a fundraising email on Wednesday with the subject line: “Chaos, Cats and Conspiracy.”
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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.
