SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (WCMH) -- Gov. Mike DeWine was back in Springfield on Tuesday, visiting at least one school and encouraging parents to return their children to class.
DeWine was in Springfield after appearing there Monday to outline the state's response to help keep schools and other facilities open amid bomb threats that he said were all proved to be hoaxes from "overseas."
On Tuesday, he said one additional bomb threat was called in and determined to be unfounded. He said state troopers would continue to sweep Springfield schools each morning and then maintain a visible presence on campuses during the day.
“We cannot let the bad guys win,” DeWine said. “Our schools must remain open.”
He encouraged parents to send their children to school, with Dr. Robert Hill, district superintendent, saying that attendance has been down this week.
Springfield has increasingly been in the national spotlight since Sept. 9, when Sen. J.D. Vance -- the Republican nominee for vice president, who's from Middletown, Ohio -- pushed unfounded accusations that illegal Haitian immigrants were eating pets there. The next night, former President Donald Trump repeated the claim in his debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris as she laughed and looked on in disbelief.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating -- they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said.
In the days that followed, bomb threats shut down or caused lockdowns at city schools, BMV offices, public buildings and hospitals. And a bomb threat made to the Ohio Statehouse on Monday was related to Springfield, DeWine said.
A city of 58,000, Springfield has become a haven for some 12,000-20,000 Haitian immigrants, most of whom came to the U.S. legally to escape political turmoil and humanitarian crises. Many originally settled in Florida but came to Springfield after hearing of its growing need for workers.
Springfield officials asserted there were no reports of the activity that Trump and Vance described. A photo of a man carrying what appeared to be a dead bird while walking down a city street turned out to have been taken in Columbus, and a police video of a woman accused of eating a cat turned out to be of a local person from Canton.
Over the weekend, Vance backed his efforts to draw attention "to the suffering of American people" in places such as Springfield even if it meant creating stories, and on Tuesday, he connected the problems with Harris' "border policies making housing unaffordable for American citizens" in a post on X.
DeWine said either presidential candidate would be welcome to visit Springfield but that doing so soon would cause resources to be stretched further.
