More than 40 Haitians in Springfield have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after President Donald Trump revoked their legal status earlier this summer, drawing condemnation from faith leaders in the Clark County city.

The enforcement activity follows a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed Trump to end temporary protected status for the 330,000 Haitians who fled violence in their home country. Legal protected status for Haitians officially ended on July 27. TPS is a program that grants work authorization and protection from deportation to nationals of countries deemed unsafe for return; Haiti's designation, first granted after the 2010 earthquake and repeatedly renewed amid political instability and gang violence following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, was among the largest in the program.

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center and himself a TPS holder with an asylum case pending, sharply criticized the administration's approach. "I am calling out this administration to tell them that we deserve to be treated with dignity," he said. "We deserve to be treated as human beings. We are not animals."

Dorsainvil is one of roughly 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield, a population that grew over the past decade as immigrants arrived to take jobs in the city's manufacturing and logistics sector and that holds a mix of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal statuses. "They are not a threat to the community," he said. The city drew national attention during the 2024 presidential campaign over false rumors about its Haitian residents, which local officials repeatedly debunked.

Adam Banks, pastor of First Baptist Church, said Haitian people are not "political bargaining chips." "They are not threats to be monitored and removed," he said. "They are care providers, co-workers, faith leaders, and family. … We demand an end to deportations that tear families and our community apart."

ICE agents have been detaining people in Springfield at shopping plazas, gas stations, and apartment complexes. "Springfield is under siege right now," said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield's Central Christian Church.

Fellow Springfield pastor Gilbert Joubert Adrien was detained by ICE agents on Aug. 20, and advocates are calling for his release. "We hope that will happen very, very soon," Ruby said. "He needs to be out immediately. He is a good man with a congregation to serve, and they are without a pastor right now."

A pastor from the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield was detained last week while in Northwest Ohio and may already be out of the country, according to Ruby.

Many of the Haitians detained in Springfield are being sent to Butler County Jail in Hamilton, which held 1,103 total inmates as of Friday afternoon. The jail's general housing capacity is 844, even though the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction recommends 756 as the housing capacity, according to a 2025 ODRC inspection report.

Haitians living in Springfield are also being required to report to ICE offices in Blue Ash or Westerville and to wear ankle monitors. Ankle monitors are a form of electronic surveillance commonly used in immigration enforcement as an alternative to detention, requiring wearers to keep the device on at all times.

"Being outfitted with that monitor, it just symbolizes slavery," Dorsainvil said.

He recounted the story of a mother who came to the Haitian Support Center weeks after giving birth, having lost the baby. "She could not even walk, but they put the shackle on her," Dorsainvil said. "You cannot understand how hard it is to hear those people on a daily basis crying."

"They are afraid to go out. They do not have freedom to go out. They don't have the freedom even to look for help," Dorsainvil said.

Advocates are demanding an end to the ankle monitors. "It is inhumane," Ruby said. "It is an insult. It is designed to humiliate, and we want it to stop right now."

Ruby recently helped a Haitian family relocate to Canada. "Their children had survived kidnapping attempts when they were in Haiti," he said. "Most families can't go to Canada. It was only an option for this family because they had an immediate family member who was there."

The U.S. Department of State currently maintains a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory for Haiti "due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited healthcare," according to the agency. In June, a top security official and chief of staff to Haiti's defense minister was kidnapped.

The federal government promised Haitians who self-deport a free airplane ticket and a $2,600 check to return to Haiti. "They are not getting the money that our government has promised," Ruby said. He spoke with a reporter in Haiti who said Haitians being deported are getting off the plane and running for their lives. "It puts a target on them that says to the gangs, 'come get this person.'"

(Source: Ohio Capital Journal, original report via Raw Story, https://www.rawstory.com/springfield-ohio-2677797953/)