The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, issued a proclamation Thursday giving himself temporary “emergency powers” as the city faces multiple threats of violence following false claims about Haitian immigrants in the community.

The part-time rabbi at the only synagogue in Springfield, Ohio, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Haitian migrants are disenfranchising the town’s citizens, claiming that two members of his congregation had been “forced to move” out of an apartment complex and injured in a car accident because of the influx.