Ohio State Troopers to Increase Security at Springfield Schools

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that he will send Ohio State Highway Patrol officers to each of the Springfield school district’s 18 buildings “starting tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.”

The move comes in response to the recent evacuation of several Springfield schools following a series of bomb threats. The threats began after former President Donald Trump, his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, and their allies began spreading the blatantly racist lie that Haitian immigrants in the city eat residents’ pets and pose a danger to other residents — a baseless smear that Springfield officials say contributes to growing hostility toward the city. The Republican governor did not mention Trump or Vance in his announcement.

“Many of these threats come from overseas, from those who want to stir up the current discord around Springfield. We cannot let the bad guys win,” DeWine said in a statement. “We must take every threat seriously, but children deserve to go to school and parents deserve to know their children are safe. Increased security will help alleviate some of the fears these hoaxes have created.”

About 36 OHSP Mobile Force officers will provide “extra security” at schools, the governor said, by inspecting each building for threats before students and staff arrive and remaining on campus throughout the school day and after school. None of the threats so far have been legitimate, DeWine said, but the increased security is “purely precautionary” so schools are prepared.

Following the threats and new attention in Springfield, Haitian residents said they felt unsafe, with some choosing to keep their children home rather than attend school.

These false stories also led to the evacuation of Springfield City Hall due to bomb threats and the cancellation of all remote events and classes at Wittenberg University due to a shooting threat targeting Haitian immigrant students.

The next day, Trump denied knowing about the threats.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Vance admitted to “creating a story” about Haitian immigrants eating pets.

“If I have to create stories to make the American media actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Because you’re completely letting Kamala Harris go.”

“Dana, this is coming from first-hand accounts from my constituents. I say we are creating a narrative, meaning we are creating the American media that focuses on it,” the senator said before baselessly claiming that Harris let 20,000 undocumented immigrants into Springfield. (Most of Springfield’s Haitian immigrants are there legally.) “But yes, we created the real focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering that Kamala Harris’ policies have created.” Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has not been in a position to create policy.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue called for peace during an interview with CNN’s Bash on Sunday, adding that politicians and those running for office should understand “the weight of their words and how they could harm a community like ours.”