‘It’s just so wrong’: Haitians in Ohio reel from supreme court TPS ruling

Summary

After outrageous insults from Donald Trump, Haitians have helped to revive Springfield – now their future is uncertain T he embattled Haitian community of Springfield, Ohio is among many groups reeling after this week’s ruling from the supreme court that strips the legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of Haitians living and working in the US – and could be a threat to more than a million. The Springfield community in particular had worked hard to remain resilient beyond the outrageous besmirching by Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign and further insults about Haiti delivered after he became the US president again. Now it has been rocked to its foundation and is in existential fear because of court rulings on Thursday favoring the Trump administration that critics denounced as “advancing a white supremacist agenda”. Just two weeks ago, many Haitians living in the small city between Dayton and Columbus were in buoyant mood and filled with hope, lifted by national sporting ambitions. All that changed within moments of the ruling on Thursday morning that means around 350,000 Haitians, and several thousands Syrians, in the US on Temporary Protected Status (TPS (Temporary Protected Status)) could immediately find themselves targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE (immigration enforcement agency) ) and deported. “All of these people are going to have to run away or go somewhere, which I’m pretty sure is going to start tonight,” said Franky Pierre, from Jérémie in south-west Haiti, who came to the US on a boat with his family as far back as 1992, fleeing the aftermath of a military coup that saw the overthrow of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In this plaza, there are [now] seven Haitian businesses,” he said. “I would say most of the owners are on TPS.” The supreme court voted 6-3 to pause prior rulings by courts in New York and Washington DC that had temporarily stopped the Trump administration from ending TPS for Haitian and Syrian nationals in the US. This is going to hurt the schools, the boys’ soccer team at the high school [has a number of Haitian-born players].” “It’s hateful, it’s wrong,” she said of the supreme court ruling. Of more recent arrivals to Springfield who were adapting to American life, she said: “They learned our language, they’re learning our customs, and now we’re telling them that they need to leave.” Immigration advocates fear that the Trump administration wants to end TPS designations for most or all of the remaining countries on the shrinking list , now down to 17, regardless of how much danger there would be in people being forced to return to their native nation. A crash outside the city in 2023 involving a legal Haitian immigrant who did not have a US driving license, that killed an 11-year-old boy, fueled online anger, from the far right in particular. He says that whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) comes to Springfield or not, Haitians in the area are likely to leave en masse. “If they are just cleared out like [Trump] is saying he is going to do, Springfield’s gone,” he says.