We have moved resources to Springfield. People have the right to both feel safe and be safe, says Mike DeWine, the state's governor, who, like presidential candidate Trump, is a Republican.
Last Friday, schools in the city were closed after, among other things, bomb threats. To ensure that teaching can now proceed undisturbed, the police will search the premises every morning. New surveillance cameras have been installed, and a bomb-sniffing dog will be available around the clock.
It was during last week's TV debate before the US presidential election that Trump spread an unfounded rumor that Haitian workers had eaten people's cats and dogs.
Governor DeWine says that Haitian migrants have come to Springfield because the area is crying out for workers.
The companies are hiring them because they need labor, and they (Haitians) need jobs, he says.
They work hard. And I think we should respect that.
American media have traced the information to two women in Springfield, who were behind a warning Facebook post about Haitians taking cats to eat. But they have since said that they only heard a rumor via a friend of a friend.
I don't know if I'm the most reliable source since I actually don't know the person who lost the cat, says one of them to the site Newsguard.
