Jacques, dressed in a hoodie, sweatpants, Converse high-top shoes and a camo hat with an American flag patch, said Haiti is ruled by gangs and violence is rampant. He said deporting people back to a country with such dangerous conditions would be cruel.
“The situation in Haiti — especially the political situation — has made Haiti unlivable,” said Jacques, who has lived in Springfield for about three years. “There is no place in Haiti that is safe right now.”
But Jacques and other Springfield residents aren’t so sure that Clark County is all that safe for Haitians right now. They fear that ICE and federal agents are going to specifically target Springfield to try to make good on promises President Trump and his administration have made to crack down on immigration in the small Rust Belt city.
Haiti’s TPS designation is on track to expire after Tuesday. State and local officials say they’ve received no indication from the federal government what will happen then, but they are preparing for the potential of federal immigration enforcement operations, possibly as early as Wednesday.
Some Haitian migrants who live in the area increasingly are scared to leave their homes and go out, fearing they could attract the notice of federal authorities. Haitian-owned businesses in Springfield have seen their sales and foot traffic nosedive, and once bustling strip malls are welcoming fewer customers.
Some Haitians reportedly have already left Springfield, and others say they fear they could be forced to leave. “Everyone is worried,” said one Haitian woman, who works at a store in Springfield, speaking through a translator.
The Springfield area is home to an estimated 10,000-15,000 Haitian residents. It’s unclear how many are on TPS versus other immigration statuses such as asylum or a green card.
The Department of Homeland Security has encouraged people on TPS to seek a more permanent legal status, but the Trump administration suspended some of those legal pathways for Haitians and others.
The Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News spoke to more than a dozen Haitian people living and working in the Springfield area for this story. Most of them expressed feelings of uncertainty and dread about the TPS cancellation.
Very worried
Jacques came to Springfield after fleeing his home in Haiti, which was located a couple of hours outside of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital and most populous city.
Jacques said he first went to New York, but he learned about Springfield from one of his best friends and he moved here partly because of lower housing and living costs and good job opportunities. His friend owns Keket Bon Gout Carribean Restaurant, which sells dishes like Griot (fried pork) and fried goat. The store is decorated with small Haitian flags hung above the counter and hanging on the walls are fake vegetation and flowers and string lights.
Jacques said he works, pays taxes, spends money in the community and feels like a contributing member of society as he tries to make a better life for himself and his family.
“Springfield is a good place,” he said. “I like the environment and the people — because Springfield has a lot of good people. ... I have never felt any racism and I feel appreciated.”
But Jacques recently was laid off from his job as a truck driver, because his employer was concerned about his work authorization status.
Jacques said he cannot afford to be unemployed, and he and his friends are stressed and scared and no one knows what they are going to do if they lose protected status. Jacques said some people have already packed up and left Springfield, and he does not know where they went or where they will end up.
TPS holders are not at risk of removal from the United States and cannot be detained by the Department of Homeland Security because of immigration status. TPS holders are eligible for work authorization permits.
As of March 2025, Ohio was home to about 26,500 foreign nationals with TPS, says data published by the Congressional Research Service from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Three years earlier, there were about 6,000 foreign nationals with approved TPS status in the Buckeye State, CRS data indicated.
The Department of Homeland Security last year declared that Haiti no longer meets the statutory requirements for TPS because conditions in the country have improved to the point where foreign nationals can return safely.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
But the U.S. State Department has published a travel advisory warning Americans not to visit Haiti due to threats of kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest and health care concerns. The State Department’s website says Haiti has been under a state of emergency since March 2024, and nonemergency U.S. government employees and their family members were ordered to leave the country in July 2023.
DHS’ plan to terminate Haiti’s TPS designation, set to happen after Tuesday, has been challenged in federal court.
Businesses suffering
On South Limestone Street, in southern Springfield, is a nondescript strip mall that is home to Rose Goute Creole Restaurant. The restaurant sits between a Latin market and a beauty shop.
Rosena Jn Louis opened the business along the commercial corridor in 2023, selling items like rice and beans with legumes and fried pork, chicken and fish. She moved to Springfield in 2015.
Speaking through a translator, Rosena told this news outlet that her restaurant has seen a 60% decrease in sales in the last six or seven months, and she thinks that’s because many Haitians have left the Springfield area.
She said the loss of customers has put a strain on her restaurant, and she’s had to reduce her payroll. She said it is always risky to start a business, but she felt the community was growing and thriving. Now, she’s not sure what the future holds and she’s very worried.
Credit: Buck Creek Photography
Credit: Buck Creek Photography
Like most of the Haitian people interviewed for this story, Rosena is part of the TPS program, and she is seeking asylum and has a work permit. She said conditions in Haiti are awful and gangs are in charge.
Jean Joseph, a 52-year-old resident from Port-au-Prince, recently visited the Southgate Shopping Center where Rose Goute Creole is located. Looking around, Joseph said the shopping center used to be much busier. He thinks that many Haitians have moved away, resulting in reduced foot traffic.
Through a translator, Joseph said he thinks some people left the area because they were scared after Trump’s unfounded assertions on the campaign trail and during the presidential debates in 2024 that Haitians in Springfield were eating people’s pets. Trump’s reelection probably also convinced some people to leave the area, he said.
“We used to see a lot of people around here. Springfield was full of us,” he said. “Before, you wouldn’t find empty houses, but now you see many empty houses.”
Joseph, who is a TPS holder, said he will never return to Haiti. He said he left the country and moved to the United States in 2021 because he used to be an elected leader and his political activities put him in danger.
“If we have to go back to Haiti and die, so be it,” he said.
Joseph, however, told this news outlet that he’s not scared. Joseph and many of his friends hope and believe they will receive asylum protection.
However, the asylum process is on hold. President Trump in late November paused all asylum decisions and approvals following a deadly shooting of two National Guard members in the nation’s capital. The alleged shooter is an Afghan national.
‘I have nothing left in Haiti’
On a recent weekday morning, a Haitian-owned market in Springfield was completely empty. The owners, who did not want to use their names, said the market had only sold about $20 in products by late morning.
Not that long ago, there would have been hundreds of dollars in sales by that point in the day, the owners said. The business opened in 2022.
One owner said some people have lost their jobs or decided to move away. Haitians who have stayed are scared to leave their homes and venture out into the community, she said.
The store closed down temporarily one day in January because there were reports and rumors that ICE was active in the area.
One owner said she fled Haiti in 2019 and gangs burned down her home. Her family and other people she knows lost everything.
“I have nothing left in Haiti,” she said through a translator, while fighting back tears. “If you have a house or business, they will kidnap you or kill you. This is not a game.”
Haitians living in Ohio have survived hardships that most people can’t imagine, said Lynn Tramonte, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
“They shouldn’t have to keep packing up their things and leaving, every couple of years, to find a safe place to be,” Tramonte said. “We should be offering them a permanent home.”
The role of TPS
TPS is government protection granted by the Secretary of DHS to qualifying foreign-born individuals who cannot return home safely because of conditions or circumstances that prevent their country from adequately handling the return.
Last fall, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that TPS designation of Haiti will end at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 3. Noem can extend TPS designation for six, 12 or 18 month periods or cancel the designation.
“This decision restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement last summer. “We encourage these individuals to take advantage of the Department’s resources in returning to Haiti ... Haitian nationals may pursue lawful status through other immigration benefit requests, if eligible.”
Noem asserted that allowing Haitian nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is “contrary to the national interest” of America. President Trump, talking about his proposed mass deportation plans on the campaign trail in September 2024, said, “We’re going to start with Springfield.” He said Springfield has been “destroyed” by immigration.
DHS’ decision to end Haiti’s designation has been challenged in the courts. One plaintiff in a case in federal court in California is Viles Dorsainvil, who is executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield.
Dorsainvil said there is no question Haiti is still unsafe.
“I know if folks returned there, they would face the same situation that pushed them away,” he said. “The gangsters are still in operation in Haiti and the country is still not doing good. ... It’s not safe to send people back there.”
Dorsainvil recently told the Dayton Daily News that he too has seen fewer Haitian residents out and about when he drives around the community. He doesn’t think Haitians have left the area. Instead, he believes they are staying at home as much as possible to avoid potential encounters with federal immigration authorities.
Dorsainvil said unfortunately he thinks ICE will be deployed to Springfield to try to satisfy supporters of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies. He and others believe an ICE crackdown in the city will get the kind of attention and headlines this administration wants.
ICE and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
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