What to know about the threats in Springfield, Ohio, after false claims about Haitian immigrants

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A small Ohio city has been inundated with hoax bomb threats since last week's presidential debate, when former President Donald Trump falsely accused members of Springfield's Haitian community of abducting and eating cats and dogs.

Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has amplified debunked internet rumors about Haitian migrants as the Republican ticket criticizes the immigration policies of President Joe Biden's administration that are supported by Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. City officials acknowledge growing pains from the influx of some 15,000 Haitian immigrants, but say there's no evidence to support the claim they are consuming anyone's pets.

More than 30 bomb threats have been made against schools, government buildings and city officials' homes since last week, forcing evacuations and closures. Springfield also canceled its annual celebration of diversity, arts and culture in response to the threats, and on Tuesday, state police were deployed to city schools.

Here are some things to know about the situation in Springfield:

Foreign actors, primarily. That's according to Ohio's governor, Republican Mike DeWine, who revealed that most of the threats are coming from overseas. The governor's office says a criminal investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies determined the “vast majority” of the threats were international in origin. Officials did not provide more information on how investigators determined they came from a foreign country, nor would DeWine reveal the name of the country.

DeWine sent dozens of members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol to all 18 city schools, where sweeps will be conducted twice a day to prevent further disruption and help reassure parents and students the buildings are safe. Even with the increased police presence, though, many parents still kept their kids home from school on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, security cameras have been stationed at strategic spots in the city, and a bomb-sniffing dog was sent to Springfield and will be available round-the-clock.

And DeWine pledged $2.5 million over two years to increase support for primary health care. The state highway patrol is also helping local law enforcement with traffic enforcement. DeWine said many Haitians are inexperienced drivers and are unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws.

Springfield never wanted the spotlight — not in this way.

On Tuesday, city officials said that misinformation and falsehoods about Haitian immigrants have sowed fear and division, disrupted learning and cost taxpayer dollars. In a statement, they begged public figures, community members and the media to “move beyond divisive rhetoric and instead work toward fostering unity, understanding and respect.” The statement did not mention Trump or Vance by name.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue has said the immigrant influx is straining police, hospitals and schools. He has also criticized the federal government, saying the city asked for help months ago. But he called on national leaders Tuesday to “temper their words and speak truth.”

Jobs and word of mouth.

Springfield shed manufacturing jobs and its population decreased significantly as a result toward the end of the last century. But the city has made a concerted effort to lure employers and Haitians immigrants have helped meet rising demand for labor in factories and warehouses. Word spread, and Haitians began arriving in greater numbers over the last few years.

Haitians in Springfield and elsewhere came to the U.S. to flee violence in their home country. Many Haitians are here under a federal program called Temporary Protected Status, which allows them to temporarily live and work in the U.S. because conditions are considered too dangerous for them to return to Haiti.

Members of the Haitian community say they felt uneasy even before Trump and Vance picked up and amplified the lies about pet-eating, as longtime residents chafed at the new arrivals' impact on jobs, housing and traffic.

“Some of them are talking about living in fear. Some of them are scared for their life,” Rose-Thamar Joseph said last week at Springfield's Haitian Community Help and Support Center.

At a church service on Sunday, Mia Perez said her daughter was evacuated from school twice last week.

“Kids in school are being asked by other kids: ’How does the dog taste? How does the cat taste?'” Perez said. “She’s asking, ‘Are we the kind of Haitians who eat this kind of stuff? Is it true? What’s happening?’”

“This is a conversation that I was not ready to have with my daughter,” Perez said. “I felt disrespected of our culture.”

Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania.

A mural depicting Hattie Moseley, a Springfield Civil Rights activist who was instrumental in battling the segregation of Fulton Elementary School, is painted on the WesBanco building on East Main Street in Springfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Springfield native Jaheim Almon, left, plays basketball with a group of neighbors in Springfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

The sun rises over the city of Springfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Romane Pierre of Rose Goute Creole Restaurant in Springfield, Ohio, helps a line of customers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iranian hackers sought to interest President Joe Biden's campaign in information stolen from rival Donald Trump's campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people associated with the then-Democratic candidate in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.

There's no indication that any of the recipients responded, officials said, and several media organizations approached over the summer with leaked stolen information have also said they did not respond. Kamala Harris' presidential campaign called the emails from Iran “unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity” that were received by only a few people who regarded them as spam or phishing attempts.

The emails were received before the hack of the Trump campaign was publicly acknowledged, and there’s no evidence the recipients of the emails knew their origin.

The announcement is the latest U.S. government effort to call out what officials say is Iran’s brazen, ongoing work to interfere in the election, including a hack-and-leak campaign that the FBI and other federal agencies linked last month to Tehran.

U.S. officials in recent months have used criminal charges, sanctions and public advisories to detail actions taken by foreign adversaries to influence the election, including an indictment targeting a covert Russian effort to spread pro-Russia content to U.S. audiences.

It's a stark turnabout from the government's response in 2016, when Obama administration officials were criticized for not being forthcoming about the Russian interference they were seeing on Trump's behalf as he ran against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In this case, the hackers sent emails in late June and early July to people who were associated with Biden's campaign before he dropped out. The emails “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to a statement released by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The agencies have said the Trump campaign hack and an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign are part of an effort to undermine voters’ faith in the election and to stoke discord.

The FBI informed Trump aides within the last 48 hours that information hacked by Iran had been sent to the Biden campaign, according to a senior campaign official granted anonymity to speak because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.

Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

In a statement, Harris campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement since learning that people associated with Biden’s team were among the recipients of the emails.

“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said. "We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the effort to dangle stolen information to the Biden campaign “further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election” to help Harris.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposes Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

Iran’s intrusion on the Trump campaign was cited as just one of the cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns identified by tech companies and national security officials at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Executives from Meta, Google and Microsoft briefed lawmakers on their plans for safeguarding the election, and the attacks they’d seen so far.

“The most perilous time I think will come 48 hours before the election,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told lawmakers during the hearing, which focused on American tech companies’ efforts to safeguard the election from foreign disinformation and cyberattacks.

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at Pubkey Bar and Media House, Wednesday, Sept.18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)