The Springfield City School District in Ohio closed and evacuated schools on Friday, marking the second straight day of evacuations after a bomb threat targeted several city buildings and an elementary school, amid a right-wing conspiracy theory targeting Haitian immigrants in the city.
One threat cited a conspiracy theory that the city’s immigrants were eating local pets and wildlife.
The Springfield City School District said in a statement to Forbes that Roosevelt Middle School was closed, while Perrin Woods Elementary and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated, citing unspecified information from Springfield police.
Springfield officials said Thursday “multiple facilities” were targeted by a bomb threat, including city hall, Fulton Elementary School and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, among other facilities, and every Clark County, Ohio, building was closed out of “an abundance of caution.”
The threat included disparaging claims against Haiti and a baseless conspiracy theory championed by former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating local pets, USA Today reported.
There are no other threats to Springfield City School District buildings as of Friday, school officials said.
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Springfield city officials said Thursday the FBI was assisting in an investigation to determine the bomb threat’s origin.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, spread claims that appeared to originate from a user on a Springfield, Ohio, Facebook page falsely claiming their Haitian neighbors were eating a local cat. On Tuesday, the conspiracy theory gained more traction after Trump repeated the claim, suggesting immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people that live there.” Springfield Police investigations commander Mike Kranz told Forbes there are “no credible reports” of immigrants in the city harming pets, though Vance has doubled down on the claims despite indicating it was “possible” they were false. The Facebook user also told NewsGuard they didn’t “have any proof” substantiating the claim. Other right-wing commentators and officials—including Elon Musk and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas—have also continued circulating the claims. Biden administration officials have condemned Republicans spreading the conspiracy theory, including National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, who said the claims were “disinformation” based on “an element of racism.”
20,000. That’s the estimated number of Haitian migrants who have settled in Springfield, city officials reportedly said. Most of these migrants have traveled to the city since the pandemic, fleeing escalated gang violence in Haiti.