SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Ohio stationed state police at Springfield schools Tuesday in response to a rash of bomb threats — the vast majority that officials said came from overseas —- after former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance falsely said legal Haitian immigrants in the small city were eating dogs and cats.
Schools, government buildings and elected officials' homes in Springfield were among the targets of more than 30 hoax threats made last week that forced evacuations and closures. Two more schools had to be evacuated on Monday, and the high school was threatened on Tuesday. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said a foreign actor was largely responsible, but he declined to name the country.
Even with dozens of Ohio State Highway Patrol officers fanning out to protect the Springfield City School District’s 18 schools, many parents opted to keep their children at home. At one elementary school, some 200 students were absent Tuesday out of a population of 500.
“There’s still a high level of fear due to these unfounded threats and hoaxes that have marred our existence really for going on a week now,” said Robert Hill, chief executive office of the Springfield City School District, appearing at a news conference with DeWine.
Two highway patrol officers have been assigned to each school, a protocol that will be continued “as long as it is necessary,” DeWine said.
“We do not believe there is a real threat out there, but we are certainly not going to take any chances. And we want parents to be assured that their children can be kids and can go to school and can learn,” he said.
State police were visible at a middle school earlier Tuesday, with students dropped off as normal.
Thousands of Haitian immigrants have settled in recent years in the predominantly white, blue-collar city of about 60,000, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from the state capital of Columbus, where they have found work in factories and warehouses that had been struggling to fill job openings.
The sudden influx has strained schools, health care facilities and city services and driven up the cost of housing — and became a major political issue after Trump amplified debunked internet rumors about pet-eating during last week’s presidential debate. Vance has repeated the false claims.
“We did not have threats seven days ago. We did not have these concerns seven days ago. We did not have these hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in Springfield and from the state of Ohio in support seven days ago. We do today,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said Tuesday.
Rue did not mention Trump or Vance by name, but called on national leaders to “temper their words and speak truth.”
“That’s what Springfield is asking. We need peace. We need help, not hate,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, answering questions at a forum for Black journalists in Philadelphia on Tuesday, said her heart breaks for Springfield. She said the inflammatory rhetoric about Haitian immigrants is “exhausting and it’s harmful and it’s hateful and and grounded in some age-old stuff that we should not have the tolerance for.”
Vance has not backed down, writing on the social media platform X that “citizens are telling us that there are problems” in Springfield and that he has repeatedly condemned the threats. He accused Harris of ignoring the residents' legitimate concerns and trying to stifle debate.
DeWine's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said Tuesday that “the vast majority" of the bomb threats have come from foreign countries.” He said a criminal investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies yielded information on the origin of the threats.
Tierney was not more specific on how investigators determined they came from a foreign country, nor would he reveal the name of the country, saying that could encourage additional threats.
“These are largely foreign actors, not folks in the community or another part of the United States,” he said. “We think it’s useful in part because it shows that it’s, you know, false, that it’s safe to send your kids to school. And we’re providing extra patrol support to make sure people feel safe at school.”
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Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania.