A bomb threat in the city entangled in claims Haitian migrants are eating pets has forced officials to evacuate government buildings and a school.
The government of Springfield, Ohio, said it evacuated its city hall on Thursday after the threat, two days after Donald Trump repeated a false claim that put the city at the centre of a national debate over immigration.
“Due to a bomb threat that was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield today, City Hall is closed today,” the city government said on social media.
Several police cars were stationed outside the City Hall, and Fulton Elementary School has also been evacuated.
Officials did not say whether the bomb threat was prompted by Trump’s comments.
The small city of 60,000 has been in the national spotlight after Republican politicians, including former president Trump, claimed that immigrants were eating dogs and cats.
City officials say there have been no reports of anybody eating pets.
Roughly 15,000 Haitian immigrants have come to the city in the past three years, putting a strain on schools and other social services.
Locals have also said that the influx has driven them out of their jobs and homes.
Some Haitians have been drawn to the city in part by the lure of low-paid jobs at a massive Amazon distribution warehouse.
Rolland Foor and his partner Maggie Crooks, both 52, said they had been living in their SUV – heavily decorated with pro-Trump slogans – since he lost his job as a forklift operator. “Me and my co-workers were told at the end of our shift we were done,” Mr Foor said.
“I was making $21 an hour. The company brought in 15 Haitians and we found out they were taking our jobs. All because of $21 an hour versus $13 an hour. We lost everything due to them coming in here. There used to be no problem finding a job.”
Tensions with the local community have led to groups of neo-Nazis marching in the streets in recent weeks.
Haitian American community leaders say they fear for their safety after Trump said during Tuesday’s debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris that “they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.”
The rumour appears to have first surfaced in social media posts that said immigrants were eating missing household pets. The author of the post, Erika Lee, said she wrote it after hearing from a neighbour.
That neighbour, Kimberly Newton, said she had heard it from a friend, who heard it from another friend, who heard it from an acquaintance. It was unclear whether that person had witnessed the alleged incident directly.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who represents Ohio in the US Senate, also has repeated the comments about Haitian immigrants, who are in the US legally and authorised to work.
On Thursday, he said Haitian immigrants are degrading the quality of life in Springfield. “(In) communities like Springfield, Ohio, where you have 20,000 Haitians who have come in, housing costs are unaffordable, communicable diseases are on the rise, and people can’t afford to live a good life in this small Ohio town,” he said on CNBC.
The post Multiple bomb threats in Springfield two days after Trump’s comments on Haitians eating pets appeared first on The Telegraph.
