Trump’s Racist Migrant Theory Keeps Terrorizing Ohio Town
Donald Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s lies about Haitian immigrants have continued to create chaos in the city of Springfield, Ohio.
Two elementary schools in Springfield were evacuated Monday morning in response to bomb threats. Simon Kenton Elementary School and Kenwood Elementary School became the fifth and sixth Springfield buildings to be targeted by bomb threats in the last week.
On Friday, Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated and Roosevelt Middle School was closed altogether.
The continued threats are a direct response to the right-wing hysteria around claims of immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets that are being churned out by the Republican ticket. There have been no credible reports of immigrants eating pets, and the racist rumors have been dispelled by Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
The city announced Monday that it would cancel its annual CultureFest for the safety of its residents and visitors.
The FBI is investigating threats of a shooting and a bombing that were sent to Wittenberg University in Springfield over the weekend, which were specifically in response to Republicans’ outlandish claims about the immigrant population. On Monday, the university announced that classes would be held remotely and that all activities and sports were canceled for the day.
“Both messages targeted members of our local Haitian community,” said a statement from the university. “Wittenberg Police are cooperating with the Springfield Police Division and the FBI as they continue to investigate these threats, which follow similar threats made toward city offices, healthcare establishments, local schools, and other locations in the area.”
Clark State College, a nearby community college, also took “proactive measures” to keep its students safe and announced it would be going remote for the week.
The FBI’s Cincinnati field office said in a statement Sunday that they are “working in coordination with the Springfield police department and Wittenberg University to determine the credibility of recent threats, share information, and take appropriate investigative action.”
Over the weekend, two hospitals in Springfield went into lockdown after receiving bomb threats. Vance, who is an Ohio senator, had previously claimed that the city’s health facilities were “overwhelmed” by the city’s population of migrants and that the spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV were on the rise. This was after Ohio’s Department of Health director Bruce Vanderhoff said last Tuesday that Springfield has “not seen a measurable, discernible increase in vaccine-preventable illness.”
Despite the fact Vance admitted that he was using claims about migrants eating pets to raise the profile of his and Trump’s favorite bogeyman, undocumented immigration, to a national level, Vance balked at the idea that he was responsible for inciting the bomb threats against his own constituents, calling the suggestion “disgusting.”