Ohio City Hall Receives Bomb Threat After Trump Spreads Anti-Migrant Lie

The city hall building in Springfield, Ohio was evacuated on Thursday after reportedly receiving a bomb threat, days after the city was thrust into the national spotlight when former President Donald Trump shared racist lies about immigrants living there.

Multiple agencies and media outlets “were alerted to” the bomb threat directed at Springfield City Hall and other buildings via an email on Thursday morning, according to a statement from city government. The threat prompted “an immediate response from local and regional law enforcement.”

The buildings were evacuated as a safety precaution until all affected areas had been cleared, Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott said at a press conference. The source of the threat remains unclear, but authorities have opened an investigation.

“Springfield is a community that needs help,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told the Washington Post , adding that national leaders should provide that help and not “hurt [his] community like, unfortunately, we have seen over the last couple of days.”

Rue did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for additional comment on the threat, but told the Post that the threats had used “hateful language” towards Haitians and immigrants. The city also did not reply to a request for comment.

Around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants live in the county surrounding Springfield, ABC News reported .

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have recently spread false claims that Haitians in Springfield steal and eat people’s pets .

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said at the presidential debate on Tuesday. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”

There’s no credible evidence to back up that claim, which took off after right-wing internet users conflated accounts of a missing cat with unrelated police body camera footage showing a woman arrested for allegedly eating a cat.

Both Rue and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) dismissed the baseless claims about Haitians eating pets.