Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Tuesday that Ohio officials are preparing for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents potentially coming to Springfield to deport thousands of Haitian immigrants who could lose their Temporary Protected Status at the beginning of the next month.
More than 500,000 Haitian immigrants, with 15,000 of whom are currently living in Springfield, could lose their TPS on Feb. 3.
President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance criticized Haitian immigrants during the 2024 election by claiming that they were eating Americans’ pets.
DeWine said he doesn’t know whether ICE will come to Springfield after the immigrants’ TPS expires, adding that he, Clark County police, and school district officials are preparing for a potential visit, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
“If ICE does in fact come in, comes in with a big operation, obviously we have to work this thing through and make sure people don’t get hurt,” DeWine, a Republican, said.
DeWine added that he is concerned that children’s services could become overwhelmed if parents are detained by ICE.
“I don’t think it’s in our interest in this country for all the Haitians who are working, who are sometimes working two jobs, supporting their family, supporting the economy, I think it’s a mistake to tell these individuals you can no longer work and have to leave the country,” the governor said.
DeWine also said that Ohioans who oppose ICE activity have the First Amendment right to protest its agents. However, he said that they should not interfere with the “lawful action by ICE.”
Additionally, DeWine said that while protesters have a Second Amendment right to bring a gun to a protest, they should not do so, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
“You know, the purpose of demonstration is to try to demonstrate your position and get a point across,” he said, according to the report. “And I think you could do that without a gun, but again, they have a right to have a gun.”
Bob Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, also suggested that Ohioans should not bring a gun to a protest because someone could take your gun away from you and hurt others.
Springfield City School District staff is also preparing for a potential visit by ICE agents, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
“Federal authorities signaled an enforcement window of at least 30 days,” Springfield City School District Superintendent Bob Hill wrote in the message obtained by the news source. “A federal list of individual removal orders has been identified in Springfield as an initial focal point for enforcement activity, with discretion to detain additional individuals encountered who lack lawful status.”
Meanwhile, many Haitians affected by the recent Trump decision are hoping that a pair of lawsuits challenging the legality of the federal government’s decision to cancel the TPS designation for Haiti will allow them to remain legally in the United States.
Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian community leader in Springfield who is a plaintiff in one of the federal lawsuits, told the Dayton Daily News that if Haitian immigrants were ultimately forced to return to Haiti, they could be kidnapped, attacked, tortured, and killed.
