Springfield children 'fearful' amid dozens of bomb threats after false migrant rumors

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The dozens of bomb threats and the onslaught of public attention that has befallen a small Ohio city since President Donald Trump and others pushed the false claim that Haitian migrants were stealing and eating pets has children living in fear, worried parents said Thursday.

“They’re scared to go to school. They’re unsure of what’s going on,” John Michael Moore said of his children. “These kids are like sponges. They’re absorbing everything. We just wish it would stop.”

Dozens of bomb threats have been made in Springfield, including at schools, in the days since Trump repeated the baseless and harmful claims about Haitian migrants during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and their allies have also spread the lie.

Officials have said the allegations are false, and city police issued a statement saying that there were “no credible reports” of Haitian immigrants harming pets.

That hasn’t stopped a barrage of threats from causing school evacuations and shutdowns.

“I really feel bad for the Haitian children, because they’re here for an education,” Moore said. “They come from a country that’s in chaos, they just want a normal life.”

All of the bomb threats have been determined to be hoaxes so far, but children are afraid for themselves, their friends and their community, parents said.

“My baby is only 10 years old, and that’s not right. That’s not right, that my daughter has to be fearful,” Springfield parent Martin McWhorter said. “Why are you messing with my baby?”

McWhorter said his daughter’s school was a target of the bomb threats and lamented that what had been a small, peaceful city now doesn’t feel safe.

“So I’m trying to make sure that my daughter is very much aware of her surroundings,” he said.

Melanie Flax Wilt, the president of the Clark County Commission, said people in the community “are being stressed by the national attention that has been created and some of the security concerns that we’ve had.”

She said the situation has made it challenging to provide basic resources to the community, and that educators and first responders also now “have an added level of strain and stress in responding in an environment that has put them in somewhat in a feeling of danger. Whether or not that is real or not, it still creates stress and strain on those who are serving our community.”

Flax Wilt said she has also seen “our community come together in a way that’s very positive in the last few days and more of a positive approach to some of the rumors and the challenges circulating.”

Haitian immigrant Romane Pierre moved to Springfield from Florida in 2020. He now manages Rose Goute Creole Restaurant in the town and says people have been calling, sarcastically asking “do you have cat today do you have dog today?”

“Everybody is scared,” Pierre told NBC News. His restaurant is blocks away from the elementary school that was evacuated last week, and he says he was shopping at a Walmart when it was evacuated because of another faux threat.

But he says the fear has been matched with support — his restaurant has been overwhelmed with new customers, many driving hours to support.

“They say I am from Columbus, I am from Cincinnati, I am from Indiana,” he said. He said he also got a call from Florida with the customer saying “I am going to order some food for someone, just take my card, my credit card, my debit card and just give it to someone else.”

Still, because the false rumor spread so widely, Isaac Mackey said he had to have conversations with his children about the potential new dangers in their community. He said he has told them to “keep their eyes open” for any strange or suspicious people or activity.

“See something, say something,” he said he told them. “Anything strange at all, somebody’s looking suspicious, you need to tell somebody about it.”

Sharice Otieno said that last Friday she was walking to school with her son when she heard from another family that there was a bomb threat.

“I immediately had to tell my son he couldn’t go to school. He’s 6 years old. He didn’t really understand, like what’s a bomb threat? So I just explained to him that there are people, adults who are trying to hurt kids. He started to cry.”

Otieno said she called a friend of hers who is Haitian to tell her to pick up her child because of the threat.

“She ran out of her house in her night robe, going to get her child,” she said.

“So it was a very terrifying feeling. But I was also enraged, because I know that it’s rooted in lies against the community that has shown me a lot of love,” she said.

Otieno said that as a parent, the recent events have made her “concerned for my baby. It makes me concerned for his peers and his teachers, but it also makes me concerned for my community.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com