Bomb threat in city at heart of Trump immigrant rumors sparks evacuation

By Julio-Cesar Chavez

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (Reuters) -The government of Springfield, Ohio, evacuated its city hall on Thursday due to a bomb threat, two days after Donald Trump repeated a false claim that put the city at the center 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.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told local media the threat came from someone who claimed to be a local resident and mentioned frustration with immigration.

Several police cars were stationed outside the city hall, which otherwise showed no signs of disruption.

The small city of 62,000 has been in the national spotlight after Republican politicians, including former president Trump, falsely 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 recent years, boosting the local economy but also straining schools and other social services. Wages have surged and local officials say crime has not risen.

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."

It is the latest in a long line of falsehoods that have defined the Republican candidate's political career.

The rumor appears to have first surfaced in social media posts that said immigrants were eating missing household pets. The author of the post, Erika Lee, told Reuters she wrote it after hearing from a neighbor.

That neighbor, Kimberly Newton, told Reuters 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 U.S. Senate, also has repeated the smear about Haitian immigrants, who are in the U.S. legally and authorized 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.

"Donald Trump is trying to demonize us, vilify us for his own political gain," said Florida Democratic state Representative Marie Woodson, who came to the U.S. from Haiti at age 21.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A 2021 study by the libertarian Cato Institute found that Haitian immigrants are more likely to be employed than native-born Americans and also more likely to live in poverty.

About half of the 1.1 million Haitian Americans in the United States are immigrants, according to the Census Bureau. Most live in Florida or New York, but some have moved to states like Ohio in recent years to pursue work.

Civic leaders in Springfield say the new residents are filling vacant jobs and starting businesses of their own, but some longtime residents say they have been frustrated by the sudden changes to their community. A small group of white supremacists marched through town during a jazz festival in mid-August.

Steevenson Persona, 28, who came to Springfield from Haiti in 2018, said a man told him to "go back to your country" and threatened him during a parking dispute two weeks ago.

"I ain't gonna lie. If these things getting worse, I got to leave the city or go somewhere else," he said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Julio-Cesar Chavez in Springfield; Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Ted Hesson, Gabriella Borter and Tim Reid in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)