Haitian families are said to be leaving Springfield, Ohio, in droves over fears they’ll be rounded up and deported following Donald Trump’s re-election, according to reports.
Around 200,000 Haitian immigrants legally live and work in the US under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – granting them immunity from deportation for a limited time because of emergency conditions in their home nation. Thousands of these have settled in Springfield – a city of about 58,000 residents.
Despite having legal status, the president-elect has signaled that immigrants living under TPS could have their status revoked.
Now, with Trump set to return to the White House in two months’ time, some immigrants have already started packing up and leaving Springfield before they could be pushed.
“People are leaving,” Margery Koveleski, a volunteer at the Haitian Community Alliance, told The Guardian.
“Some folks don’t have credit cards or access to the internet, and they want to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket, so we help them book a flight.”
While many Haitians are thought to have moved locally to surrounding cities, others are considering returning to South America, community leaders said.
Jacob Payen, a co-founder of the Haitian Community Alliance, said that a second Trump term has brought with it fears of “mass deportation.”
“People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation,” told The Guardian.
In September, Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance pushed false rumors about Haitian residents in Springfield eating pets and local waterfowl even after authorities debunked the claims.
“They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said to a bemused Vice President Kamala Harris on the debate stage on September 10.
In early October, when Trump was asked by NewsNation if he would revoke TPS for Haitian migrants in Springfield, he replied: “Absolutely. I’d revoke it, and I’d bring them back to their country.”
Beyond Trump’s rhetoric, he has now taken the controversial move to nominate South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as his secretary of homeland security. In this role, she will oversee a $60bn budget and thousands of employees from federal agencies including the US Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As governor, Noem has deployed the state National Guard to the southern border several times in recent years.
Despite his false claims abotu Springfield residents, Trump beat Harris overwhelmingly in Clark County, where Springfield is based, according to election results.
It comes at a time when violence and unrest in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince continues to rise, with the new Prime Minister Garry Conille being fired last week.
