Bomb threats on Monday forced the temporary closure of schools and municipal buildings in Springfield, Ohio, where the sizable population of Haitians has made the small city a focus of the debate over immigration and President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Governor Mike DeWine told reporters that “bomb threats” began around 7:45 a.m. “These are threats that referenced Haitians,” he said. “The essence was, Get rid of Haitians.”
Mr. DeWine noted that unlike previous threats, which were purely electronic, the threats on Monday involved suspicious packages found at two locations in the city.
He said that F.B.I. agents were in the city, and called the threats “despicable.”
It is not the first time that Springfield has faced bomb threats, and the city was back in the news last week after a federal court ruling staved off the possibility of deportations of hundreds of thousands of Haitians nationwide.
The court case has been closely watched in Springfield. The city had been mobilizing to support the more than 10,000 Haitians living there as the federal government moved to revoke temporary protections and make many of the immigrants deportable.
On Monday morning, the local school district said that all buildings were being evacuated, and the district instructed families to pick up their children.
A notice from the city government, said that “residents and visitors are asked to avoid the downtown area” because of “safety concerns.”
Late Monday morning, Mayor Rob Rue said in a statement that there was “no immediate or credible threat to the public at this time.”
But the city’s downtown was hardly back to normal. Several blocks were still cordoned off, including a building housing county offices. Streets were blocked off with police tape, emergency vehicles and a police van.
Springfield was thrust into the national immigration debate in late 2024 after President Trump echoed baseless claims that Haitians there had been abducting and eating pets. The city received more than 30 separate bomb threats within a span of a few days.
Officials later said that the threats had been hoaxes and that no explosive devices had been found.
On Monday, bomb squads with explosive-detection dogs were on the scene, according to business leaders and residents who provided photos to The New York Times.
Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending a humanitarian protection for more than 350,000 Haitians, who have been able to live and work in the United States under what is known as Temporary Protected Status, or T.P.S. The Trump administration has filed a motion appealing the decision.
As they awaited word of the decision, many Haitian families kept their children home from school, and fear has expanded its grip on the city.
“Last week, the Haitian community was in a state of anxiety before the court decision and many didn’t send their kids to school,” said Amanda Mullins, a real estate agent who has many Haitian clients and friends.
“Today Haitian families are panicking and everyone in Springfield is on edge,” she said.
At an event held on Feb. 2 in support of Haitians in Springfield, more than a thousand people packed a church. The turnout was more than double what organizers had expected and the fire department made hundreds of people leave.
Haitians began arriving in Springfield during the Covid-19 epidemic to fill job openings in auto-parts makers, warehouses and the health care sector.
If T.P.S. was terminated, many of the people from the troubled Caribbean nation would have become immediately deportable. Others have pending asylum cases that should continue to allow them to live and work in the United States.
But the fate of Haitians across the country remains uncertain, and the case could end up with the Supreme Court.
Miriam Jordan reports from a grass roots perspective on immigrants and their impact on the demographics, society and economy of the United States.
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