SPRINGFIELD, OH – Tensions in this Ohio city are rising after ICE detained a second Haitian pastor, religious leaders organized public outcry, national media attention returned and local residents called on city officials to intervene.
The Trump administration says it is keeping its campaign promise to deport the Haitians who had made Springfield home, this week releasing a grainy video of shackled men boarding a plane titled "Haiti repatriation flight."
On the ground, immigrants are in hiding, their children are skipping school and their advocates are demanding an end to what they are calling an ICE siege on the city.
"Springfield is afraid – not of crime but of ICE. Afraid to drop kids at school, afraid to go to work, afraid to sit in a pew on
Sunday," resident Jen Castro told members of the Springfield City Commission on Aug. 25. "Some of you have decided it doesn't concern you."
After that and similar comments over an hour and 20 minutes, Republican Mayor Rob Rue thanked residents who "came to speak for the humanity of our community" but offered no remedy to their concerns.
"I wish there was more that we could do as a local government," he said.
ICE detains Haitian pastors, puts others in ankle monitors
Springfield and its 58,000 residents were thrust into the national limelight in September 2024 when Donald Trump and JD Vance, as candidates for president and vice president, repeated untrue rumors that Haitians there were stealing and eating pets. By year's end, PolitiFact named the claim "the lie of the year."
Attention returned this summer, with the U.S. Supreme Court OK'ing an end to temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants in June and the federal government making it official July 27. By early August, Haitians in Springfield – numbering 12,000 to 15,000 across Clark County – were receiving notices to report to ICE offices in the Blue Ash neighborhood of Cincinnati and Westerville, a Columbus suburb.
After that, about 30 were detained in Butler County Jail under its contract with ICE, local advocates told The Enquirer. Among the detainees are two pastors: Gilbert Joubert Adrien, arrested Aug. 20 and still in Butler County; and Julio Dumano, arrested Aug. 25 in the northwest part of Ohio and flown to Louisiana the next day, according to his supporters.
Some local Haitian immigrants, like Jonas Julien, left ICE check-in appointments with ankle monitors. "I don't know what awaits me," the 35-year-old Haitian immigrant told The New York Times for an Aug. 23 front-page story. "I am just exhausted from the worry."
Tension in the streets, on the phone, in public meetings
Early in the week, the city's Haitian Support Center was overwhelmed, "responding to desperate calls" from families targeted by ICE, executive director Viles Dorsainvil said on social media. Crying mothers and crying children reported arrests and hunger, he said.
Midweek, a compact green sedan stopped in the middle of South Limestone Street, with five black SUVs pulling up behind it. The driver fled to the yard of a Rally's there and was tackled by armed ICE agents, according to video posted by 937ICEwatch, which identifies itself as a local rapid response organization. Many of the commenters assume the driver is Haitian, but the video does not identify him in any way.
On Aug. 25, the Springfield City Commission got an earful.
Lucky Philistin said ICE removed her father when she was young, leaving her mother to raise three daughters alone "because she wanted to give us better life."
"Now, 20-something years later, I'm wondering what that better life is," Philistin said.
Rachel Salyers said she'd lived in Springfield her whole life and never been afraid in the city before. "Right now, it's terrifying. Our families are scared to go to church, school, the store," she said.
Residents asked city officials to:
- Enforce a City Commission resolution of January requiring federal agents to show their faces.
- Ban federal officials from using city property for any operations.
- Refuse to share Flock Safety data pulled from car license plates with agencies that request it.
- Work with schools to protect children of Haitian families and keep them in class.
Mayor Rue wrapped up public comment at the meeting asking fellow commissioners if any wanted to weigh in. None did.
No officials or members of the public spoke in favor of ICE.
Before moving to official business, he called for a moment of silence to "reflect on individuals being affected," then offered a prayer asking for peace in the community, and wisdom, courage and boldness for its leaders.
Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 27, 2026
Those with terminated TPS are in our nation Illegally. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED.https://t.co/Pahpi5pL2Z pic.twitter.com/uoPjNzqNM6
Leaders 'missing in action,' advocate group says
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance was quick to pounce on Rue and other officials.
City leadership has been "missing in action when it comes to the ICE invasion of their town," Executive Director Lynn Tramonte said in a press release. "The city of Springfield went from embracing the Haitian population that helped it grow to abandoning them in their hour of need."
The alliance was also critical of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, saying he'd been a strong advocate for Haitian Ohioans but "seems to have turned the page."
Tramonte called on DeWine to press Ohio's U.S. senators, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, to support proposed legislation to restore protections for Haitians in the United States. She also called on the governor to direct officials in Springfield and Clark County to focus on criminal activity not immigration enforcement.
Asked for a response, Moreno's office pointed to earlier comments from the first-term Republican senator. In one interview, he noted that Haitians knew they would be deported after losing protected status so they "should do that on their own."
DeWine's office declined comment about the alliance statements, saying the governor "has spoken and written at length about the issues of immigration and Springfield." In 2024, he called Springfield a place of opportunity with "a rich history of providing refuge for the oppressed." This month, he said Haitians in Springfield had "played a major role" in the city's economic comeback.
Husted's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump administration: 'Those with terminated TPS are in our our nation illegally'
Federal officials made their position clear in the new video, posted to the Department of Homeland Security's X pageAug. 27.
"Haiti TPS has been TERMINATED," the post said, without disclosing the airport featured in the 50-second clip. "Those with terminated TPS are in our nation Illegally. They have two options: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or be DEPORTED."
In an emailed statement to The Enquirer, DHS reiterated that message.
"Temporary Protected Status is exactly that – temporary. For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent," the statement said.
“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. The good news is it’s not too late to get a $3,000 check and a free flight home.”
Faith leaders call ankle monitors 'humiliating'
As the week came to an end, close to 20 faith leaders gathered, just blocks from where ICE arrested the man outside Rally's.
"The world is watching," said Dorsainvil, the help center director, adding that other countries are following the United States' lead in how they treat Haitians.
Many accused the government of racism in targeting Black and Brown immigrants for detention. Many said the government was making local Haitians wear ankle monitors to humiliate them. All joined a chant started by Denise Williams, president of the city's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: "Unshackle Springfield! Unshackle Springfield!"
Collectively, the pastors and their supporters called for the release of Adrien and Dumano, the Springfield pastors, and an end to ICE raids and the use of ankle monitors.
The group expects "hundreds and hundreds" of people to attend its next event, a march in downtown Springfield at 1 p.m. Aug. 30 at city offices.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Springfield residents say they are 'under siege' amid ICE actions
