The Republican governor is sending dozens of police officers to protect schools in a city whose Haitian community has been in political turmoil since Trump’s remarks.
Dozens of Ohio State Police officers are protecting schools in Springfield starting Tuesday after threats sparked by untrue cat-eating stories.
Police officers perform security checks on school premises before staff and students arrive.
The city found itself in an unprecedented situation after the Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance spread a false and discriminatory post on social media about immigrants kidnapping and eating pets in the city.
Donald Trump repeated the claim in a TV debate Horrible Harris with.
As a result of the cat-eating stories, more than 30 bomb threats have been made in the city after the TV debate, all of which have turned out to be baseless.
Last week, all schools in the city of 58,000 were evacuated due to a bomb threat. The town hall also received a bomb threat.
Last weekend, members of the far-right Proud Boys gang were seen marching in the city and the Ku Klux Klan handed out leaflets.
The information has not prevented the spread
The city administration has tried to disprove fake news about eating pets by informing.
On Monday, also Trump’s party mate, the governor of Ohio Mike DeWinesaid there is no evidence of abductions and eating of pets. However, he cautioned against criticizing Trump for spreading the claim.
Thousands of Haitian immigrants have settled in Springfield in recent years. Many of them go to work in Columbus, the state capital, 70 kilometers away, where labor is in demand.
The influx of immigrants has put a strain on Springfield’s school and health care systems, as well as other public services. The increase in population has also increased the price of housing.
The atmosphere in the city already became tense last year, when a Haitian who was driving without an Ohio driver’s license crashed his car into a school bus, causing an 11-year-old Aiden Clark’s death and injury to 26 children.
Last week, Aidan’s father pleaded at a city council meeting that Trump and Vance stop using his son’s death as a political bludgeon.
– They never had and are not allowed to say the name of Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio, out loud, the distraught father Nathan Clark demanded.
Immigrants worried
Many of the Haitians who have settled in the city now fear where the attention directed at them will lead.
– Many are thinking about leaving the city, says the secretary of the Haitian aid center Rose- Thamar Joseph news agency Reuters.
Haitian father of two children who lived in the city for a year Marcdescribes to Reuters that Haitians are now facing hostile people in Springfield. He himself says that he resigned because of increased workplace harassment.
– It’s not in our culture to eat dogs. Ridiculous, says Marc.
AP, Reuters