Trump plans to visit Springfield, Ohio, the site of his baseless claims about Haitian immigrants

Former President Donald Trump plans to visit Springfield, Ohio, "soon," a source familiar with the planning said.

The town has become the center of a national political fight on immigration, with Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, spreading baseless conspiracy theories that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating dogs and other pets.

Though the unfounded claims have circulated online in right-wing circles for weeks, they went mainstream last week when Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met for a debate in Philadelphia.

“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. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame,” Trump said on the debate stage.

Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy also announced on X that he will visit the town Thursday.

Officials in Springfield and elsewhere in Ohio have resoundingly condemned all allegations that immigrants in the city have been eating pets.

In a statement to NBC News on Monday ahead of the debate, the Springfield Police Division said that "there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community."

GOP Gov. Mike DeWine told ABC News on Sunday that there is no evidence that immigrants in Springfield have been eating pets and that the conspiracy theories were "garbage."

"The Haitians who are in Springfield are legal. They came to Springfield to work. Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence," DeWine said.

Since the debate, municipal buildings in the city have been the targets of bomb threats and immigrants in Springfield have