‘I’m afraid’: Aftermath of Trump’s misinformation on Springfield’s Haitians

Vilbrun Dorsainvil said he fled his home country, Haiti, after someone tried to kidnap him.

Three years later, he says he’s afraid for his and his community’s safety in the United States.

“Before, I was not. But right now, I can say I am afraid,” Dorsainvil said. “Right now, I’m afraid there may be a mass shooting on us. That would be terrible.”

Dorsainvil’s fear started during ABC’s September 10 presidential debate from Philadelphia, when former President Donald Trump repeated a debunked claim about migrants in this small city about 72km (45 miles) west of Columbus, the state’s capital. Trump referred to “Springfield” three times.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” the Republican nominee said. “They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

ABC host David Muir fact-checked Trump onstage. City officials had debunked the claim.

“There have not been any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said at a city commission meeting a few hours before the debate.

The Republican governor of Ohio, where Springfield is located, also dispelled the claims that Haitians were eating pet animals. “I think we should take the word of the city manager and the mayor that they’ve found no credible evidence of that story of Haitians eating pets,” Mike DeWine was quoted as saying by ABC news site.

No correction could stop the real-world chaos that followed.

On September 12, Springfield City Hall closed following a bomb threat “sent to multiple agencies and media outlets.” Rue told The Washington Post the threats “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community”.

On September 13, the morning after Trump repeated the false claim at his Tucson, Arizona, rally, the Springfield City School District evacuated two elementary schools following an email threat. A middle school had been closed all day because of threats.

PolitiFact visited Springfield to follow the aftermath of Trump’s misinformation in a county that he carried by 60 percent in 2020. Journalists with cameras, tripods and microphones filled the small city’s centre after the debate.

Many residents seemed hesitant to speak to news outlets; they didn’t want themselves or their small business in the conversation.

Some residents told PolitiFact there has been a clear increase in the number of Haitian migrants moving to the city in the past few years. Some residents expressed concerns about road safety and resource constraints in recent months as a result. None of them said they’d witnessed or had evidence of people taking pets or wildlife and eating them.