FBI looking into anti-Haitian threats at Springfield, Ohio, university

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Sept 15 said it was assessing the credibility of threats against Haitians at Wittenberg University, following baseless claims by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that migrants in the town were eating cats and dogs.

The threats to open fire on Haitian migrants have forced the Springfield, Ohio, school to close its campus for a day.

The FBI’s involvement follows similar threats made against migrants in the town after Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, spotlighted false claims that Haitians who have settled in the town were eating residents’ cats and dogs.

Wittenberg announced on the evening of Sept 14 that all events scheduled for the next day would be cancelled following the e-mailed threat and warned students, faculty and staff to exercise extreme caution on campus.

“The FBI is working in coordination with the Springfield Police Department and Wittenberg University to determine the credibility of recent threats, share information and take appropriate investigative action,” according to a statement from the FBI’s Cincinnati field office.

Haitians in the town say they fear for their safety.

University spokeswoman Karen Gerboth said on Sept 15 that the university had received a second threat “but it was quickly cleared on campus”.

The university also said in an update that at least one other unnamed campus in the area had received similar threats.

In a post on social media platform X, Clark State College said it had cancelled classes in a building on Sept 12 to 13 “due to a safety situation” in the town. A spokesperson for Clark could not be reached.

Sergeant Atkins of the Springfield Police Division, who declined to give his first name, told Reuters that there was no significant activity to report in the campus area as at the morning of Sept 15.

In a series of cable and broadcast television appearances on Sept 15, Mr Vance defended the baseless claims, maintaining that they were not entirely unfounded and had helped call attention to the area’s social problems otherwise ignored by the news media. REUTERS