Courts have now cleared away the final hurdles for President Donald Trump’s long-promised effort to deport the thousands of Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio.
But the administration has been opaque about what exactly it has planned, and it’s not yet clear what’s next for this western Ohio city.
Many of the estimated 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield were here legally with Temporary Protected Status, a federal designation granted to immigrants from countries facing conditions such as natural disasters or armed conflict. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS in June.
“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that ‒ temporary,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Enquirer on Wednesday, Aug. 5. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”
The department provided statements attributed to an unnamed spokesperson. When The Enquirer asked for a name, as the statements do not meet USA Today Co., Inc., ethics standards for confidential sources, the department did not respond by deadline.
What’s happening now in Springfield?
Haitian residents of Springfield have been receiving letters calling them in for appointments at ICE field offices, The Enquirer reported. Some have been given ankle monitors, an alternative to detention used by ICE, that restrict them to a 75-mile radius from their home address.
The closest ICE detention facility to Springfield is the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio, which has a federal contract to hold ICE detainees. Between July 5 and Aug. 5, the jail has detained only five people hailing from Haiti for ICE, jail records show. Two of those people lived in Springfield and three in Columbus.
There is also a privately run ICE detention center, Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, in Youngstown, Ohio, roughly 220 miles northeast of Springfield.
Can Haitians self-deport to another country?
The United States has third-country agreements ‒ deals that allow immigrants living in America to be deported to places other than their home country ‒ with dozens of countries around the world. Some of those agreements include limits on how many people the third country will accept, and others include payments made by the United States.
As of May 5, the Trump administration has deported around 22,000 people to a third country, with approximately 19,000 of them sent to Mexico, according to Third Country Deportation Watch, a project by Refugees International and Human Rights First that tracks these kinds of deportations.
People hailing from many different places have been alternatively deported to third countries. It’s not clear whether Haitians in Springfield could be sent to a country rather than Haiti.
The Enquirer asked the Department of Homeland Security whether the Trump administration has secured a third-country agreement that would allow Haitians to self-deport to another country. The department did not answer that question.
“What we would say now is it’s closing time which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” a spokesperson responded in an email. “The good news is it’s not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home.”
Can Springfield’s Haitians go back to Haiti?
Home, however, is in a national state of emergency, and has been since 2024.
The U.S. Department of State advises Americans not to travel to Haiti “for any reason” due to risks of “crime, terrorism, kidnapping, unrest, and limited health care.” Commercial flights are not operating to or from Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. U.S. air carrier flights are also not able to land there.
Homeland Security uses specially chartered planes and U.S. Coast Guard aircraft for deportations. This year, there have been six removal flights to Cap-Haitien, a port city on the north coast of Haiti, according to ICE Flight Monitor, which tracks deportation flights and transfers. The number of those flights are down since 2021, when political unrest and economic turmoil led to the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse.
What has happened in other situations with revoked Temporary Protected Status?
The abrupt end of TPS for Haitian immigrants is unprecedented, experts say.
Neil Fleischer, founder and partner of the Fleischer Law Firm in Cincinnati, said in 20 years of working in immigration law, he’s never seen TPS end while a country is still in turmoil.
Miranda Hallett, who researches TPS as part of her work with the Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton, said she is not aware of TPS ending so abruptly before.
What other options do Haitians in Springfield have?
There is no quick or easy path to legal status, experts say.
Some Haitian residents may have close family members who can petition for them to stay in the United States, but it’s an expensive process that can take seven to 10 years, said Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield.
An employer can sponsor a visa for temporary or permanent residency, but work authorization for Haitians ended with the end of TPS.
Haitian residents can apply for asylum, but applicants must prove their home country’s government is persecuting them or that they’re being persecuted by someone who the government is unable or unwilling to stop. A grant of asylum is not permanent and can be terminated by ICE.
What happens next?
Haitian immigrants living in Springfield were told to report to the Cincinnati ICE field office in Blue Ash, Ohio this week, despite Springfield Mayor Rob Rue and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine saying ICE had not made them aware of any planned immigration enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security told The Enquirer in an email it does not comment on current or future operations.
Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@enquirer.com, @ee_glynn on X and @eringlynn on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ICE says ‘You can’t stay here.’ But where can Ohio’s Haitians go?
Reporting by Victoria Moorwood and Erin Glynn, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Victoria Moorwood and Erin Glynn, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
