Donald Trump vows mass deportations from Ohio town rocked by ‘pet-eating’ lies

Donald Trump has said he will mass deport migrants in a small Ohio town that has been rocked by baseless claims its Haitian influx are eating pets.

“We’re going to start with Springfield,” Trump said on Friday, adding the town had been “destroyed” by immigration.

Springfield officials say the debunked claim of pet-eating has sent shockwaves through its community, and led to violent threats that have shut schools.

President Joe Biden appealed for calm on Friday, calling criticism of Haitians in Springfield “simply wrong”.

“This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop,” Mr Biden said of Trump’s statements.

The Republican candidate’s promise comes after nearly a week of false claims about migrants killing pets in Springfield.

The claims of animal eating, which Trump repeated in his debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday, has been denied by Springfield’s police chief and mayor, as well as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

On Friday, three schools in Springfield were evacuated due to bomb threats. At least one of the threats made disparaging comments about Haitians, according to Springfield Mayor Bob Rue.

It comes after city hall and several other buildings, as well as one school, were evacuated on Thursday because of threats.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newshour programme, Mayor Rue said: “People’s pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio”.

“We do not have any evidence that has happened, and I’ve made it known in multiple interviews that this is absolutely not true.”

He added that he wanted people to understand “the weight of their words and how it can negatively affect communities.”

Trump was asked whether he was considering a visit to the town during a press conference at his golf course in Los Angeles on Friday.

“I can say this, we will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio – large deportations. We’re going to get these people out. We’re bringing them back to Venezuela,” he said.

The migrants in Springfield are mostly from Haiti, and have legal permission to be in the US under a federal programme for Haitians.

It was not immediately clear why Trump mentioned Venezuela. Throughout his remarks he made references to an influx of Venezuelan migrants to Aurora, Colorado, and said deportations would also begin there if he won the presidential election in November.

In Tuesday’s debate, Trump touched on viral claims that a Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora.

Aurora police arrested 8 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group on Wednesday.

The department acknowledged that gang members had “significantly affected” unspecified apartment complexes in the city, though the police chief denied that criminals had taken over any building in Aurora.