COLUMBUS, Ohio – As bomb threats have closed schools, colleges, hospitals and government buildings in Springfield, Ohio, state and national Republicans doubled down last weekend on unsubstantiated rumors that Haitian migrants in the small Ohio city are eating house pets and wild geese.
The rash of threats began after Donald Trump – the former president, current Republican presidential candidate, and de facto leader of the party – amplified the emerging rumor during a presidential debate last week watched by 67 million Americans.
Over the weekend, supporters in his party continued to push the rumor. His vice presidential running mate U.S. Sen. JD Vance insisted the rumor was true during multiple national television appearances. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost discouraged his followers from believing media fact checks about the situation in Springfield.
There’s no photographic evidence or firsthand witness testimony to support the claim. No victimized dog or cat owner has emerged to corroborate it. Multiple city officials and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have said they have no evidence to support it. The claim, according to fact-checking outlet NewsGuard, traced back to a Springfield woman who posted a since-deleted, third-hand account, which was later amplified by neo-Nazis attending city hall meetings. And Vance told CNN in an interview over the weekend he “create[d]” the story so media would pay attention to what’s happening in Springfield.
About 15,000 Haitian migrants have settled in Springfield in recent years. They left an increasingly impoverished and violent Haiti and were admitted to the U.S. via the federal Temporary Protective Status program, which allows refugees from 16 different nations, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Ukraine, to legally live and work here. They came, often via Florida, to Springfield, a city whose population had fallen to about 58,000 as of the 2020 census.
Since Trump’s comments at the debate, bomb threats have forced evacuations or closures of schools, hospitals and government buildings. Five elementary schools and one middle school have closed during the last week. Clark State College and Wittenberg University stopped classes. Springfield Regional Medical Center, Ohio Valley Surgical Hospital, Kettering Health Springfield, and several county government offices like city hall, courts and BMV buildings all have closed at various points as well.
The city announced Monday it had canceled its upcoming CultureFest celebration “in light of recent threats and safety concerns.” Springfield’s mayor has explicitly connected the threats and the GOP’s anti-Haitian rhetoric.
On Monday morning, the Ohio State Highway Patrol were made aware of what its officials deemed to be a noncredible bomb threat made against the statehouse. A spokesman declined comment when asked if the threat mention Haitian immigration.
Trump on Friday afternoon publicly pledged to deport the legal Haitian immigrants in Ohio to the nation of Venezuela, almost 1,000 miles away from their homeland.
Vance – one of the earliest purveyors of the pet-eating rumor with a major profile – condemned the threats of violence on Meet The Press on Sunday. However, he subsequently doubled down on the underlying rumor, insisting it’s true that some Haitians in Springfield have eaten pets and that media and government officials aren’t seriously investigating the matter.
Yost, in a series of social media posts, urged Ohioans not to “buy the shrill debunking by the leftist media outlets” when it comes to Springfield. He suggested reporters are ignoring the “competent witness[es]” who told city hall and local police that they saw “immigrants capturing geese for food.”
Cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer has reached out to Yost for comment.
Bernie Moreno, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate and himself a native Columbian who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, visited Springfield in person over the weekend. According to the Statehouse News Bureau, he called for the deportation of Haitians in Springfield and inaccurately referred to them as “illegals” – their presence is sanctioned by the federal government.
Gov. Mike DeWine, whose family ran a nonprofit school in Haiti that closed earlier this year due to gang violence, told NBC News this weekend that the rumor being spread about Haitian immigrants is a “piece of garbage” that’s just not true.
However, his Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, shared 820 words on social media last week warning about “Haitian immigrants overwhelming Springfield,” including by claiming public benefits and causing an “uptick in tuberculosis and other diseases due to lack of vaccination.” While schools were being evacuated Friday morning, he, seemingly in jest, posted a picture of two geese.
“Most Americans agree that these migrants should be deported,” he wrote in the post.
A Husted spokeswoman didn’t respond to questions.
Further down the political totem pole, politicians have joined in using the legal, Haitian immigrants in Springfield as a punching bag.
Portage County Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski wrote on Facebook that people should write down the addresses of people with yard signs for Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris. Those houses, he wrote, can house the “illegal human locust.”
Speaking on the far-right One America News, Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones called in from Springfield for an interview, warning that soon similar communities will have to start “learning different cultures here” and taking breaks to “get our prayer rugs out.”
Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
