Last Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration has the authority to retract Temporary Protected Status, TPS, from Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
The program is meant to help people from countries that have experienced violence, natural disasters, or other unsafe conditions.
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in Springfield alone, and many could now face deportation.
WYSO's Kathryn Mobley has been following the story and she joined The Ohio Newsroom to discuss the latest.
What was the administration's reasoning behind rescinding Temporary Protected Status for these countries?
"Bottom line, the Trump administration is saying, 'TPS stands for a temporary protected status — focusing on the first word: temporary.' The Department of Homeland Security maintains conditions in Haiti have improved since it was originally awarded TPS been back in 2010 when there was a devastating earthquake.
The Department of Homeland Security is saying things have improved and it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home. Meanwhile, the State Department has a Level 4 travel advisory warning Americans to avoid the country because of widespread gang violence, kidnapping, civil unrest, and a poor health care infrastructure. So you're hearing two different sides of the coin from the same administration."
How has the Haitian Ohioan community responded?
"A lot of fear, a lot of anxiety. I spoke with Rose Joseph and she works with the Haitian Support Center in Springfield and she was explaining how the ending of TPS for Haiti has now created a humanitarian crisis for her fellow countrymen.
"We have a lot of families on the TPS and people will not be able to work to provide for the family, lose the capacity to pay for their rent," Joseph said. "And one of my biggest preoccupation is for families because a lot families will be divided. A lot of the Haitian people, they have kids who were born in the United States, and if those people get deported, without the kids, it will be huge on them and also for the kids."
Governor Mike DeWine has expressed disapproval of rescinding this legal status. He spoke to PBS NewsHour last Friday.
"I've consistently said this: this is bad for Ohio. This is a job killer for Ohio, it's a job killer for Springfield," DeWine said. "It's not, it is not good for our state."
What do we know about the economic impact of this decision on Ohio and Springfield specifically?
In the early 2000s, the city of Springfield was rapidly declining in population and in industry. So the city leaders focused a lot of investment building up the health care system with the new hospital, Clark State University. They built new facilities, but it needed workers. So around 2013, 2014, city leaders and Ohio leaders, they reached out to immigrant communities.
Now there are critics who accuse the Haitians of taking jobs away from Americans. However, when I spoke with local manufacturers, they said these openings had gone unfilled for months and sometimes years, and so they welcomed the Haitian immigrants who came in and were willing to work these jobs.
As a result, we're looking now about ten years down the road and the city is booming. Haitian TPS holders contributed an estimated $91 million into the Springfield economy. They're paying about $18 million in annual federal and payroll taxes and about $21 million dollars in annual state and local taxes.
On Wednesday, July 1st, work permits connected to the TPS status of the nation of Haiti, they will be invalid. Looking forward, now these communities are trying to figure out how are they going to continue supporting these individuals.
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.