Springfield city officials declined to take call with Vance amid baseless claims about Haitian migrants

Springfield, Ohio, city officials declined to take a call with former President Donald Trump’s running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance earlier this month, as the Trump campaign continued to spread unsubstantiated claims that Haitian immigrants were terrorizing the community by eating pets, according to emails obtained by ABC News.

The emails, obtained through a public records request, shed light on the contentious relationship between the city and the Ohio senator as officials have had to repeatedly debunk unfounded claims promoted in viral social media posts and by the Trump campaign about Haitian migrants in the city. Springfield city leaders have said the baseless claims have led to dozens of bomb threats and other threats of violence targeting the Haitian community that have forced Springfield law enforcement officials to evacuate schools, hospitals and other city facilities.

In one email obtained by ABC News dated Sep. 17, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told Vance’s acting state director James Coyne that he and other city leaders were declining to join a call after the senator’s office invited “third parties” to join who Vance’s team said had “first-hand experiences” with how the influx of Haitian migrants in Springfield was affecting their lives.

“It is disheartening to see our vibrant community drawn into the national immigration debate, leading to disruptions in daily life and increased security concerns. Over the past week, schools and public offices have been closed due to threats,” Rue wrote.

A Springfield city spokesperson said officials initially believed they were scheduling a private call between Vance, Rue and Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck.

“We later learned that they wanted to bring some constituents (without providing their names or how they selected them) into what was initially portrayed as a private call. We decided that it was in our best interest to decline,” Springfield’s Strategic Engagement Manager Karen Graves told ABC News in a statement. “While we appreciated them reaching out to us, we felt the scope of the initial invitation changed and this went from an opportunity to have an honest discussion to us potentially being drawn into more politicalization.”

Graves said another call has not taken place.

Coyne later replied to Rue’s email that the senator had been “inundated with constituent complaints” since the Ohio senator spoke before the Senate Banking Committee raising some of the housing concerns the city had expressed to him in recent months.

“Our intention in inviting some of these constituents to join the call was to help facilitate a dialogue between residents we have heard from with first-hand experiences and city officials to help him contextualize their perspective with yours,” Coyne responded.

Vance first spread unsubstantiated rumors of Haitian migrants on Sept. 9, despite one of his staffers being informed that same day by Heck — who is carbon copied on the emails obtained by ABC News — that such comments were “baseless,” a city spokesperson said. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report about the Sep. 9 call, and ABC News later confirmed the details.

Still, the Trump campaign has doubled down on the unfounded claims about Haitian. Trump repeated the rumors on the national stage during the presidential debate hosted by ABC News.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said during the debate.

Vance himself has repeated the baseless claims, including in a post on X saying, “reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”‘

Despite the Trump campaign’s efforts to substantiate the unfounded claims, city and state officials have repeatedly rebuked them. In one case, a resident who initially blamed their Haitian neighbors for the disappearance of her cat admitted she was mistaken and reportedly apologized.

Vance has also repeatedly portrayed the Haitian migrants not only in Springfield but the thousands across the nation as being brought into the U.S. illegally by Vice President Kamala Harris. However, most of the Haitian migrants in Springfield are there legally.

Many of the migrants have been granted Temporary Protected Status, and once that is granted they are insulated from deportation and are allowed to temporarily work in the U.S.

“What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Rue has publicly urged those amplifying rumors about the city to stop, adding, “we need help, not hate.” But the email obtained by ABC News shows his most forceful rebuttal of Vance’s comments.

“On a personal note, it is disappointing that, as an Ohio native and elected official, you would speak about our community without first reaching out to me or my team to better understand the situation,” Rue told Coyne. “We are always open to working with you to ensure that any claims made about our community are accurate and based on a full understanding of the facts.”

Spokespeople for Vance and the city of Springfield dispute which party initiated the call request.

“Senator Vance’s office was confused by the last-minute cancellation of a meeting requested by Springfield officials. However, the door is always open for future discussion,” a spokesperson for Vance told ABC News in a statement.

“Any dialogue about our community should be grounded in facts and a comprehensive understanding of the situation,” Rue told Coyne in one of the emails. “Unfortunately, recent communications have not consistently reflected this approach. The safety of our residents is a responsibility we take seriously, and it should not be politicized.”