On Friday, the Springfield City School District in Ohio closed one middle school and evacuated two elementary schools due to bomb threats. This follows false and inflammatory statements made by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies about the city’s Haitian immigrant community.
These incidents mark the second day of disruptions in Springfield. The bomb threat on Thursday also targeted the city’s immigrant population with hateful language.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told TIME that two more bomb threats were received via email on Friday morning. The threats targeted several city commissioners, a municipal employee, three schools, city hall, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and the Ohio License Bureau Southside. Local officials are working with the FBI to trace the origins of the threats, the mayor said.
Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary Schools were moved to alternative locations, while Roosevelt Middle School remained closed for the day. Explosive detection canines were deployed to inspect the facilities, and authorities later confirmed that the buildings were clear of any explosive devices.
The threat comes amid a turbulent period for Springfield, which has been at the center of a national debate over immigration. False rumors, including claims that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pets, are circulating online. Trump repeated these unfounded claims during a recent debate. Local officials say there is no evidence to support these allegations.
Trump reiterated these unfounded claims about Haitian immigrants during a campaign stop in Arizona on Thursday. He stated, “There’s a place called Springfield, Ohio, that you’ve been reading about. Twenty-thousand illegal Haitian immigrants have descended upon the town of 58,000 people, destroying their entire way of life. This was a beautiful community and now it’s horrible what’s happened.”
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has further fueled the controversy by making misleading assertions that there has been a “massive rise in communicable diseases” in Springfield. However, local health officials have refuted these claims, pointing out that the overall rate of reportable communicable diseases, excluding COVID-19, is at its lowest level in Clark County since 2016.
These unfounded allegations have fueled local fears and attracted unwarranted national scrutiny to Springfield’s immigrant community. The town, with an immigrant population of approximately 12,000 to 15,000 individuals, includes many Haitians who are legally residing in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status due to .
—With reporting by Solcyré Burga
