SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A small Ohio town has been flooded with false bomb threats since last week’s presidential debate, when former President Donald Trump falsely accused Members of Springfield’s Haitian community kidnap and eat cats and dogs.

Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has amplified debunked web rumors about Haitian migrants because the Republican ticket criticizes President Joe Biden’s administration’s immigration policies, which Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, supports. City officials acknowledge that the influx of about 15,000 Haitian migrants is causing problems, but say there is no such thing as a evidence to support the claim that they’re eating people’s pets.

More than 30 bomb threats since last week have targeted schools, government buildings and the homes of city officials, forcing evacuations and closures. Springfield also canceled its annual diversity, arts and culture celebration in response to the threats, and state police on Tuesday distributed in city schools.

Here are some things to know concerning the situation in Springfield:

Who is behind these false threats?

Foreign actors, in particular. That’s according to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who said many of the threats got here from abroad. The governor’s office said a criminal investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies found the “vast majority” of the threats were international in origin. Officials didn’t provide further details on how investigators determined they got here from a foreign country, and DeWine didn’t name the country.

What’s happening?

DeWine has sent dozens of Ohio State Highway Patrol members to all 18 city schools, where checks might be conducted twice every day to prevent further disruptions and help parents and students ensure that the buildings are secure. But even with the increased police presence, many parents still didn’t let their children go to school Tuesday.

Meanwhile, security cameras have been placed at strategic locations around the town, and an explosives-sniffing dog has been deployed to Springfield and might be on duty 24 hours a day.

DeWine $2.5 million declared greater than two years to increase support for primary health care. State highway patrol also helps local law enforcement implement traffic laws. DeWine said many Haitians are inexperienced drivers who’re unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws.

How is the town reacting?

Springfield never wanted to be the focus — not like this.

City officials said Tuesday that misinformation and lies about Haitian immigrants have sown fear and division, disrupted science and price taxpayers money. In an announcement, they implored public figures, community members and media to “move beyond divisive rhetoric and instead work to promote unity, understanding and respect.” The statement didn’t mention Trump or Vance by name.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said the influx of migrants is straining police, hospitals and schools. He also criticized the federal government, saying the town asked for help months ago. But on Tuesday he urged national leaders to “soften their words and speak the truth.”

Why did so many Haitians move to Springfield?

Work and word of mouth.

Springfield in consequence, industrial jobs were lost and the population dropped significantly late last century. But the town made a concerted effort to attract employers and Haitian immigrants who helped meet the growing demand for employees in its factories and warehouses. Word spread, and Haitians began arriving in larger numbers in the past few years.

Haitians from Springfield and elsewhere have come to the U.S. to escape violence in their home country. Many Haitians are here under a federal program called Temporary Protected Statusallowing them to live and work temporarily in the U.S. because conditions in Haiti are deemed too dangerous for them to return to the island.

What do Haitian immigrants say?

Members of the Haitian community say they were uneasy even before Trump and Vance picked up on the pet-eating lies, as former residents were angered by the brand new arrivals’ impact on jobs, housing and traffic.

“Some of them are talking about living in fear. Some of them are afraid for their lives,” Rose-Thamar Joseph said last week on the Springfield Haitian Community Outreach and Support Center.

On church service on Sunday, Mia Perez said her daughter was evacuated from school twice last week.

“Children at school are asked by other children, ‘What does dog taste like? What does cat taste like?'” Perez said. “She asks, ‘Are we Haitians who eat this stuff? Is it true? What’s going on?'”

“It’s a conversation I wasn’t ready to have with my daughter,” Perez said. “I felt disrespected by our culture.”

Ikeria Tate, a 15-year-old black girl from Miami, is facing felony charges after she was thrown to the ground by a Miami-Dade Public Schools police officer last week.

The incident occurred at Edison High School in Miami and was captured on video that was posted to Instagram last week, which is why the full, unedited footage appears to not be available online.

However, Local 10 obtained the video and used edited portions in its news story that showed a person identified only as Miami-Dade Public Schools Sergeant Odige throwing Tate to the ground during a fight at the school after a football game.

The footage shows that after he threw her body to the ground, the man approached her and grabbed her by the hair. At that time, she waved her right hand twice.

Miami-Dade Public Schools police believed the flapping of her arms was an attack on an officer, so she was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and disturbing a college.

An arrest report obtained by Local 10 stated that Tate “became aggressive, tensing up and pulling away. The defendant continued to be aggressive and attempted to strike the sergeant with a closed fist.”

However, Tate claims she tried to grab the officer to avoid further attack.

“When he hit me, I tried to hold him so I could get up because he couldn’t hit me,” she said. NBC station in Miami.

“I didn’t mean to hit him, I just told him to leave me alone,” Tate told Local 10.

The arrest report also said police were trying to separate the fighting women when Tate intervened, pushing Sergeant Odige away and punching him, causing him to “redirect” her to the ground, which is police jargon for throwing someone to the ground.

However, the footage released by Local 10 doesn’t show the moments leading up to the impact, which might support the allegation that the woman pushed and swung at the officer.

“When I got up, he pulled me back down, like threw me back down, and one of the cops started stomping on my hair,” she told NBC Miami. “And then they handcuffed me and put me in the back of the police car.”

The incident occurred on September 11 after a football game at Edison High School, a college positioned in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami.

Police say a fight broke out between parents and students outside the school’s locker room. They tried to separate the attackers when Tate intervened.

However, Tate claims she was only one of several individuals who saw the fight when the officer grabbed her and began throwing her around.

The Miami-Dade School District and Miami-Dade Public Schools Department said they’re investigating the incident.

For now, nevertheless, Tate faces up to five years in prison for his third offense of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

Local media reported she was charged with resisting arrest, but didn’t specify whether she was charged with resisting arrest with violence or without violence, as those are two separate charges in Florida.

The former is a third-degree felony, also punishable by up to five years in prison, while the latter is just a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one 12 months in prison.

But she likely faces the former, as she also faces an assault charge. The charge can’t be confirmed through online public records because she is a minor.

“I don’t think he should have done that to my child. If anything, you should have tried to stop her in a better way,” Tate’s mother, Monique Warner, told Local 10.

“He shouldn’t touch anyone’s children like that. You should help them. That’s why children are afraid of the law.”

“Black men are like any other voting group; you have to earn their votes,” Harris told the panel, co-moderated by Gaynor, Poltico’s Eugene Daniels and NPR’s WHYY’s Tonya Mosley. “So I work to earn my votes. I don’t assume I’m going to get them because I’m black.”

Although a majority of black voters surveyed — 77 percent — plan to select Harris, Pew Research Center — Many headlines are repeating reports that more and more black men are declaring support for former President Donald Trump this election cycle.

Harris also discussed her plans to increase the deduction entrepreneurs can claim when starting a business from $5,000 to $50,000, saying the $5,000 deduction is much too little to help people get their businesses off the bottom.

“Part of my approach is to understand the obstacles that traditionally and currently exist that prevent anyone, including black men, from achieving economic prosperity, and I will tell you that I don’t think that just talking about economic policy focused on reducing unemployment is enough,” Harris continued.

During the interview, Harris also addressed the provision of childcare and lower housing costs.

Policy

She also responded to questions on the Gaza conflict, emphasizing the necessity for a hostage deal as Daniels pressed her on questions on the United States’ role in supplying weapons to Israel. Mosley also asked her whether the United States had the resources to support the Palestinians of their right to self-determination.

“I have been actively participating, for example, in meetings not only with Israeli officials but also with Arab officials to talk about how we can construct a scenario for the day after that in which we participate in ensuring those exact goals that I have outlined, including … that there will be no reoccupation of Gaza,” Harris told Moseley.

Harris also addressed false and racist rumors spread by former President Trump and his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, calling the situation “shameful” and saying those in positions of authority have a responsibility to understand the ability of their words.

“When you have a microphone like that in front of you, you really have to understand on a very deep level how much your words matter,” Harris said. “There’s a deep responsibility that comes with it, which is an extension of … this concept of public trust. You’ve been given a trust to be responsible for how you use your words, and even more so for how you conduct yourself, especially when you’ve been and then you’re trying to become president of the United States of America again.”

In contrast to her extremely aggressive and tense interview with Donald Trump on NABJ in July, Harris ended the interview by thanking NABJ and the reporters for making the conversation possible.

You can watch your entire conversation here.