US city receives bomb threat after Trump spread false anti-immigrant claims

Racist rumours continue to spread, with members of local Haitian community expressing concern for their safety.

Municipal officials in the city of Springfield, Ohio, have announced that the town’s city hall was evacuated due to a bomb threat, as conservative lawmakers in the United States continue to spread false claims about Haitian immigrants in the area.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mayor Rob Rue said that the threat came from someone purporting to be a local resident and expressing ire towards increased immigration.

“Due to a bomb threat that was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield today, City Hall is closed,” the city government said on social media.

The incident comes after Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump joined a chorus of right-wing voices spreading inflammatory — and unfounded — rumours that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were abducting and eating people’s pets.

“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said during a debate against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday. Rhetoric painting immigrants as a dangerous scourge has been a staple of Trump’s politics for years.

Local officials say there is no evidence to substantiate this claim, but far-right figures have continued to push it nonetheless.

The municipality’s website estimates that the county’s immigrant population is between 12,000 and 15,000, a sizable uptick driven largely by Haitian and Haitian American residents.

While immigrants often help rejuvenate the economies of the towns where they settle, conservative lawmakers have portrayed immigrants as a drain on public resources.

“[In] communities like Springfield, Ohio, where you have 20,000 Haitians who have come in, housing costs are unaffordable, communicable diseases are on the rise, and people can’t afford to live a good life in this small Ohio town,” Trump’s vice presidential running mate JD Vance said on Thursday.

An FAQ section on the city’s website states that Haitian migrants have settled in the town legally through the Immigration Parole Program. It also credits the Haitian American community with opening new businesses and helping to fill positions in local sectors such as manufacturing, services and warehouse work.

A 2021 study by the libertarian Cato Institute found that Haitian immigrants are more likely to work and more likely to live in poverty than native-born people in the US.

The news outlet Haitian Times also reported earlier this week that members of the local Haitian community are now concerned for their safety amid hostile rhetoric and acts of intimidation.

One Haitian woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the outlet that her niece was afraid of going to school.

“We’re all victims this morning,” said the woman, whom the Haitian Times says moved to Springfield six years ago. “They’re attacking us in every way.”

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Al Jazeera and news agencies