Ohio town at center of GOP pet-eating conspiracy has multiple school evacuations

The latest: Trump said Friday during a Newsmax conference at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California that if elected he would start mass deportations in Ohio and Colorado.

• "We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump said. "And we're going to start with Springfield and Aurora."
• When the former president was asked about the bomb threats to schools and evacuations following pet-eating claims, he interrupted the question to say, "no, no, no, the real threat is what's happening at our border."

Zoom in: Biden said the community under attack is that of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is "a proud Haitian American."

• The threats were a "hateful response to immigration in our town," Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told the New York Times on Thursday, after Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), pushed a false claim that immigrants in Springfield were eating pets.
• Rue told the Washington Post Thursday the bomb threat that prompted evacuations that day "used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community."

Driving the news: Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill elementary schools were evacuated on Friday morning following threats, multiple outlets reported. A third school, Roosevelt Middle, closed all day Friday. The nature of the threats was not immediately clear.

• Springfield's city hall, some county buildings and a separate school closed on Thursday as a precautionary measure in response to bomb threats.
• Axios reached out to the school district and Springfield Police.

State of play: Rue gave multiple interviews Thursday with news outlets as Springfield has quickly gained national attention. Trump made multiple references to the pet-eating conspiracy theory during and after the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week.

• The rumor gained traction online among right-wing influencers. It was "based entirely on third hand hearsay," per a Newsguard investigation.
• Haitian residents in Springfield have felt unsafe since the false claims were amplified, the Haitian Times reported.
• "We need to be able to speak with those people who have come across through the federal border and immigration policy," Rue said in a NewsNation interview. "We need to be able to understand them, and so we're asking for translation services that can help us do that and we're asking for funding for it."

Context: Baseless claims and heated rhetoric from Trump and his allies have previously led to threats against specific people or communities.

• Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung said in response to Axios' questions about the threats in Springfield: "President Trump was shot in the face during an assassination attempt that also tragically claimed the life of one person and seriously injured others. If you want to talk about violence and threats, let's start there."
• The 20-year-old shooter Thomas Crooks died after opening fire at Trump's Pennsylvania rally in July. Crooks was a registered Republican voter, and his motivation still remains unknown.

Between the lines: The Springfield claims "created a negative light, obviously, that we did not look for, we did not ask for," Rue said on NewsNation.

• "These claims, they were just untrue," Rue added.

What we're watching: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Wednesday allocated $2.5 million to expand access to primary care for people living in Springfield.

• DeWine previously provided support for translation services and resources for a surge of migrant students, a statement said.

Go deeper:

• Ohio city at center of pet-eating rumor receives bomb threats
• Trump pledges "largest deportation" in U.S. history, starting in Ohio and Colorado

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details from Trump's news conference.