Springfield students suffer collateral damage over anti-immigrant conspiracy theory

The students of Springfield, Ohio, are caught in a mess they had nothing to do with. 

Schools had to shut down for multiple days after 33 separate bomb threats, and two universities moved classes online after threats of a shooting, one specifically targeting "members of the Haitian community," after baseless accusations of immigrants eating people's pets.  

Experts worry not only about the students' ability to focus and learn amid the threats but the long-term takeaways they may have after seeing how false political allegations can upend their community. 

“Exposure to threats of violence or safety concerns, even indirectly through overhearing conversations between adults or news coverage, can detrimentally impact kids. In response, kids might display obvious signs of fear and anxiety, for example, by verbally expressing their worries and seeking reassurance, having trouble separating from caregivers, or not wanting to go back to school,” said Sabrina Liu, assistant professor and licensed clinical psychologist at California State University-San Marcos. 

“However, it’s also common for kids to display more difficulty concentrating, disruptive behavior, and/or changes to their sleep or appetite in response to events such as these,” Liu added. 

And those feelings can become even more difficult with the political context around Springfield, as migrants can feel singled out or ostracized due to the rumors spread about their communities.  

“I would be concerned for students that hear this language or rhetoric towards aspects of their personal identities as very stressful. [...] Oftentimes we do try to promote a feeling of belongingness and connectedness to schools," said Justin Heinze, director of the School Safety Section and co-director of the Research and Scholarship Core at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and an associate professor at the University of Michigan. "And so, if you're hearing language about your school or your school community that's also either derogatory or very negative, that could be impactful." 

False allegations of Haitian migrants stealing and eating pets first emerged at a Springfield City Commission meeting late last month, which saw a speaker from a neo-Nazi group expelled for making threats "for every Haitian you bring in." A week later, a Facebook post — attributed to the poster's neighbor's daughter's friend — accused Haitians of killing a cat that has since been found alive.

The conspiracy theory was amplified by GOP vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and later by his running mate, former President Trump, during his high-profile debate with Vice President Harris.

"In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs," Trump exclaimed.

Two days later, the bomb threats began.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who has denounced the unfounded claims, deployed state troopers to every school in the city. He says none of the bomb threats have been found to be legitimate.

“As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield,” DeWine said in a New York Times op-ed published Friday. “This rhetoric hurts the city and its people, and it hurts those who have spent their lives there.”

“It is disappointing to me that Springfield has become the epicenter of vitriol over America’s immigration policy,” he wrote, “because it has long been a community of great diversity.”

Pressed on the conspiracy, Vance has said he's trying to bring attention to immigration more broadly and the strained infrastructure of Springfield in particular, which has seen an influx in recent years.

But the false allegations, experts say, are doing considerable harm.

“There is kind of this broader political frenzy, or almost hysteria, surrounding this particular situation, and I think that those types of situations have a tendency to feed on themselves, right?” said Jessie Borelli, professor and associate director of clinical training at the University of California-Irvine.   

“So, there's been one accusation that's been made and then other accusations that can create fear, right? So that can be especially frightening for children, where they can start to wonder, 'Well, what's the next thing that's going to be pulled out from underneath? What's the next scary thing that's going to happen?'” she added. 

It can be a balancing act for schools and parents to try to explain the situation going on, especially between different grade levels. 

“I think many children at a younger age than many adults might be expecting are attentive to the political conversations occurring in the background," said Winston Thompson, associate professor of philosophy and history of education at the Ohio State University. "So I would say it's entirely appropriate to have conversations with children about these issues, because remaining silent about these issues doesn't mean that the children are going to be exposed. It just means that the children are going to be grappling with and trying to make sense of circumstances that about which they might have incomplete information or misinformation." 

Some parents have called for the schools to go remote over the threats until the spotlight gets off their city.

But parents and adults also need to be aware of the tension in the community given the racial and ethnic underpinning of the conflict.  

“I think with an influx of immigrant populations, a school really has to be careful to make sure that it's not creating the context within which there's going to be alienation for those who are relatively newly arrived, nor will there be suspicion and xenophobia from those whose families have longer histories in the area and deeper roots over time,” Thompson said.  

“Schools should be trying to educate people so that they can recognize their shared humanity and our shared faith as members of a political and civic context,” he added.