With temporary protected status at an end as of Monday, thousands of Haitians in Ohio have lost their work permits and fear immigration raids are imminent. But so far the state hasn't had any indication that's on the horizon.
While around 30,000 Haitians live in central Ohio, there's been a lot of attention on the Haitian population in Springfield, which numbers between 12,000 and 15,000. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to get rid of the legal status of many Haitians living in America.
Gov. Mike DeWine, who has for months criticized the federal government’s imminent termination of TPS, said Wednesday that he hasn't been informed of any plans for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to move in.
“The federal officials are now telling us that they do not have any plans, they’ve received no instructions, to have any kind of raids in Springfield,” DeWine told reporters at the Ohio State Fair. “Now, that can change, but they did tell us they’ve heard nothing.”
But a leading advocate for those immigrants in Springfield said they're scared that ICE raids are imminent.
"The president has mentioned Springfield so often, it's hard to imagine that there won't be," said Carl Ruby, senior pastor of Central Christian Church and the founder of G92, a coalition of faith-based groups working with immigrants. "I think that they are also relying very heavily on trying to get people to self-deport by taking away their means of survival. So the Haitian families I work with, they have a longer-term fear of being killed or harmed in Haiti, but they have a short-term fear of, how am I going to pay my rent next week? How am I gonna put groceries on the table?"
Both DeWine and Ruby said they're concerned about the effect a mass exodus or deportations of Haitians will have on the economy in Ohio.
"Landlords aren't going to be paid. The amount that they spend in our community is going to go down, and that's going to produce a hit on our county government, which is funded by sales tax," Ruby said. "Businesses are gonna have to pull back. Some of them have already done that in anticipation of this happening. Many businesses have to put bids in on jobs months in advance, and if they live under the constant threat of their workforce being deported, they can't do that. So this has already had an economic toll, and it's only going to get worse."
DeWine said employers aren't going to violate the law by allowing Haitians to continue to work, so he expects when Haitians leave it will have a big impact.
"I think it is a mistake," DeWine said. "I think that the people who come here to work, the Haitians who came to Springfield, were filling jobs that had not been filled before. They are part of the resurgence of Springfield."
Ruby said he's working with families who are making the decision to stay or go. And often they're parents who lost TPS deciding whether to take with them their Ohio-born children, who are U.S. citizens.
"I'm having conversations with a family today who are wrestling with that issue. And that's the dilemma that families face. Do I leave my children and lose contact with them, or do I take them to a place where we are going to be, potential targets of violence?" Ruby said.
Ruby added that in some cases, having TPS has put Haitians at risk when they returned to the island, saying "they have a mark on their backs."
