Last week, Republicans made the town of Springfield, Ohio, the center of a racist smear campaign accusing Haitian migrants of slaughtering and eating local pets. In the subsequent days, what began as gross online misinformation evolved into threats of violence against Haitian residents of Springfield and city officials.
No, Migrants Are Not Eating People's Cats in Ohio
On Thursday, Springfield’s city hall was forced to evacuate after receiving a bomb threat. According to the city commission, the threat was emailed to “to multiple agencies and media outlets.
“City of Springfield received a bomb threat that has prompted an immediate response from local and regional law enforcement,” the city wrote on its Facebook page . “As a precautionary measure, the building has been evacuated, and authorities are currently conducting a thorough investigation. Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our employees and residents. We are working to address this situation as swiftly as possible.”
It’s unclear what inspired the threats, but the incident took place just days after former President Donald Trump repeated online claims that Haitian migrants were killing and eating people’s pets during Tuesday’s debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The claim has also been amplified by Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, and other Republican lawmakers and commentators.
Vance has repeatedly defended his public fear-mongering against Haitian migrants, despite the accusations of animal abuse having been debunked and his own acknowledgment that the reports were dubious. On Thursday, a 2016 tweet from Vance in which he criticized Trump’s rhetoric on immigration resurfaced on social media.
“Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc,” Vance wrote . “Because of this, I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us.”
Oh, how the prospect of power changes a man.
Kamala Harris' Immigrant Song
Local city officials and law enforcement have denied the accusations against the migrants, who are of legal immigration status and have been drawn to the county as a growing job center.
On Tuesday, Springfield Police stated that “in response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Officials also clarified that law enforcement had been unable to find evidence substantiating a 911 call from a resident claiming to have seen a group of Haitians kidnapping geese from a local pond. “No videos have surfaced, no pictures have surfaced, no dead geese have surfaced; there’s nothing to substantiate that it’s happening,” Clark County Commissioner Sasha Rittenhouse said during a Wednesday meeting .
Clark County Sheriff’s Office Major Scott Cultice added that he and an employee of the Clark County Combined Dispatch Center had reviewed 11 months of police records and found that the call about the geese — which right-wing media have widely circulated — was the only report they found regarding unlawful treatment of an animal by Haitian migrants.
The spotlight on the town, and the unsubstantiated smears against its immigrant residents, has created a climate of anxiety and fear of retaliation.
A report from MSNBC found that one Haitian resident of Springfield had been asked by his coworkers if he and his community eats cats.
Viles Dorsainvil, president of Springfield’s Haitian Community Center, told MSNBC that he’s gotten phone calls from scared members of the community asking if they’ll need to leave the town because they were “afraid” for their lives.
Alimemby Estimable, a 19-year-old graduate of Springfield High School, told USA Today that he’s been seeing a lot of people talking about a lot of stuff that’s not accurate. You know, saying, like, all Haitians are cutting ducks’ necks and eating them at the park and like, they’re running into trash cans and homes and stuff. I ain’t never seen a Haitian do that before. I’m just keep it real, because I’m a Haitian myself.”
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