How Springfield, Ohio Became the Center of a Political Firestorm [Video]

A small Ohio city has been dominating headlines this past week, over claims that Haitian migrants have been killing pets and park birds for food.

City officials have debunked these rumors, but the claims gained even more prominence when Donald Trump repeated them during the televised presidential debate on Tuesday night.

The internet is flooded with clips of folks in Springfield insisting they have heard of cats and ducks going missing, Haitians laughing while denying the accusations, endless debates about immigration, and some straight-up racism, as well as scores of AI-generated images of Trump cuddling kittens and ducks.

Far from just an online storm, it is affecting real life too. Springfield’s city hall had to be evacuated on Thursday morning after a bomb threat, which officials said included “hateful language toward immigrants and Haitians in our community,” was sent to it, along with the Clark County courthouse and two elementary schools.

Behind it all is a city where people are “hurting,” Mayor …