Springfield’s Haitian immigrants vanish after losing TPS protection

Thousands of Haitian immigrants who’ve lived in Springfield, Ohio, for years suddenly disappeared from their jobs, churches and schools after losing their Temporary Protected Status, drivers licenses and work permits last month.

ICE agents have fitted many with ankle monitors and arrested many others outside churches, schools, workplaces and on streets. Many Haitians are hunkering down, fearful of leaving their homes, and legally prevented from leaving the country.

Grieving, frustrated Christians who welcomed the Haitians and tutored them in English are now giving them food boxes, signing up to provide respite care for children who lose parents, or protesting their plight.

“Our sacred siblings are afraid to take their kids to school or go to church,” said Amy Willmann, executive director of the Nehemiah Foundation, a decades old network of dozens of churches that serves the city and saw the influx as one more opportunity to do so.

ICE picked up some Haitians in the parking lot outside the Haitian Community Help and Support Center, which is housed in a Church of the Nazarene.

“Most of the people support the Haitians here,” said James Fleurijean, an assistant at the Haitian support center. But not all. “Things are getting worse, and this is what some want. They want to see people suffer.”

Fleurijean has fielded reports of ICE officers arresting a working father and leaving a wife and two children at home. ICE took another working Haitian whose wife is pregnant and now home alone. The center is working to provide Haitians with food, diapers for babies, and rent payments. But “the situation is over our capacity,” he said.

ICE agents also have stopped Haitians who are living in Springfield legally, as well as African Americans. Last Thursday, ICE arrested Gilbert Joubert Adrien, the pastor of a Haitian church.

“The Haitians are God’s people, too, but they are being stranded here now,” said Fleurijean, who cried while meeting with a 70-year-old Haitian woman who was upset after being fitted with “an ankle shackle.”

“I do cry a lot,” he said.

The U.S. offered Temporary Protected Status to people from Haiti in 2010 following an earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people and injured hundreds of thousands more. As problems in Haiti continued, including the unsolved murder of its president, social chaos increased, and the TPS designation has been renewed. Nearly 350,000 Haitians have come to the U.S. under TPS.

Altogether, more than a million people from a dozen countries already have lost or could soon lose their TPS protection because of Trump administration policies that have been greenlighted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Haitians came to Springfield, which saw its population plummet from a high of 82,000 (1958 to 1970) to fewer than 60,000 after manufacturing jobs disappeared. Employers welcomed the influx of immigrants, as did most local churches, with some adding Creole services.

Haitians went to work, paid taxes, helped grow the economy, started churches and businesses, and fixed up some of the city’s old, decrepit housing. The national group fwd.us reports: “Haitian TPS holders contribute nearly $6 billion a year to the (U.S.) economy, pay over $1.5 billion in taxes, and fill essential jobs in health care, transportation, food service and manufacturing.”

But their presence also put pressure on Springfield’s schools, social services and housing. The conservative American Enterprise Institute claimed Springfield’s Haitians made things harder for the city’s white and Black job seekers.

“Liberals emphasize how these immigrants have revitalized Springfield, minimizing the social strains caused and all but ignoring how young white men may have been harmed,” said AEI.

Dozens of churches affiliated with the Nehemiah Foundation, which was founded in 1994, stepped up to help the newcomers. Volunteers provided three levels of English classes with child care and helped newcomers studying for driver’s licenses.

Now, Nehemiah is seeking volunteers whose houses can serve as respite homes for Haitian children who are separated from their parents. So far, 14 volunteers have signed up to serve, which requires vetting, home inspections and background checks. Respite home caregivers provide one to 13 days of care.

Springfield’s Haitians became front-page news after presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely claimed during a nationally televised 2024 debate that Haitians in Springfield were eating people’s cats and dogs.

Running mate JD Vance, who grew up in Middletown, Ohio, some 50 miles away, urged “patriots” to “keep the cat memes flowing.” The late Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA said TPUSA field staff found that “EVERYONE they spoke to has heard stories of people’s pets being eaten as well as ducks and geese disappearing.”

Kirk called the city a tinderbox, and soon came bomb threats, school closures, doxxing of charity workers, marches by white supremacist groups and a flood of “microaggressions.” Some locals say “meow” when they encounter Haitians, or even African Americans, including a pastor of Champion City Church.

Some sport wrist bracelets with “Go Home” written in Creole. “It’s time for them to go,” a man wearing a cross around his neck told a Dayton TV news reporter.

Both Springfield and Clark County responded by adding FAQ sections to their websites to bat down rumors and false claims, such as:

• Are Haitians creating crime concerns?
• Are Haitian refugees killing geese in the parks for food?
• Is there an entire wing of the hospital dedicated to Haitian women with HIV/AIDS?
• Are Haitians being released after arrest because of the language barriers?

After Trump regained the White House and announced he was halting TPS protections for Haitians and people from other countries last year, the battle moved to the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the administration has the authority to terminate TPS status.

Ohio’s Catholic governor, Mike Dewine, was born in Springfield, and for three decades he and his wife have financially supported schools, a health clinic and a feeding program in the Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. DeWine says Haitian immigrants have helped the state, and he criticized Trump’s decision to end TPS in a recent New York Times editorial:“In Springfield, Ohio, Haitian nationals have played a major role in the city’s economic comeback. They’ve filled jobs, repaired homes, paid taxes, started businesses and supported their families. But the administration has ended their Temporary Protected Status, a move I have vocally opposed.”

Some Trump administration officials say Haiti is now safe for people to return, but the U.S. State Department continues to give Haiti its most dangerous Level 4 designation: “Do not travel to Haiti due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and limited health care.” Much of the country is controlled by lawless gangs.

One Haitian leader in Springfield struggled to understand the cruelty and racism behind ending TPS protections, which will break up families and communities. He drew a parallel to the brutal U.S. military occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, which left hundreds of thousands dead.

“I don’t know how somebody would call themselves a Christian while entertaining what is going on here now,” he said. “But we are a resilient people, and we have faced worse than death in the past.”

On Thursday, a plane carried 160 deported Haitians from the U.S. back to the island nation for the first time since TPS was ended. The flight landed in the city of Cap Haitien, not the airport in the capitol Port-au-Prince, which is too dangerous.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is leading efforts to provide food boxes to Springfield’s Haitian families.

 

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