They showed up by the hundreds on Monday at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, a show of solidarity with thousands of local Haitians who face the looming threat of deportation.
Before the 9 a.m. service had begun, at least a thousand people had packed the church, more than double what organizers expected and so many that the fire department made some people leave.
The gathering, on a frigid Monday morning, was a sign of anxiety coursing through this pocket of central Ohio, where many Haitians have settled in recent years and which now faces the possibility that it could be the next target of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Many Haitians who arrived in Ohio in recent years have Temporary Protected Status, a designation that shields them from deportation and that the Trump administration has sought to terminate for Haitians.
A federal judge was expected to rule Monday on whether T.P.S. can be terminated for Haitians. If the status is allowed to end on Tuesday, as the Department of Homeland Security had ordered, it would make about 330,000 people from the troubled Caribbean nation immediately deportable.
But even a ruling in favor of the Haitians would not end the uncertainty around their legal status. The Trump administration is likely to appeal, and the case could end up in the Supreme Court.
Haitians have been eligible for T.P.S. since an earthquake struck the country in 2010, and the protection has been renewed because of other crises. But the Trump administration announced last year that it was terminating the status for Haiti and other countries.
For the people of Springfield, home to more than 10,000 Haitians, the issue is local.
The city of about 55,000, sandwiched between Dayton and Columbus, was thrust into the center of the immigration debate during the 2024 presidential campaign after Donald J. Trump echoed baseless claims that Haitians in the community were eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs.
White supremacists from outside marched on the town. There were bomb threats to schools, clinics and government buildings. Even grocery stores and big-box stores were evacuated. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican and a Springfield native, deployed state troopers to protect schools and students.
And, now, on Monday, what some residents of this scarred city described as a day of reckoning for Haitians, they said they felt obligated to be at the “Here We Stand” gathering, organized by faith leaders. The mayor, Rob Rue, sat in the second row.
Dozens of attendees held signs that read, “Community Over Fear,” “Families Belong Together” and “Love Thy Neighbor.”
They prayed, sang gospel songs, and clapped and swayed to “This Little Light of Mine.”
The word for immigrant or refugee appears 92 times in the Old Testament, said Carl Ruby, a pastor who was among Springfield faith leaders leading the event.
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If Haitians are stripped of the protective status, the city is bracing for federal agents to undertake a major operation in and around Springfield, even as the nation is grappling with the fallout from the deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
Last week, the city commission passed a resolution urging federal law enforcement not to cover their faces and to identify themselves, should they come to the city.
“Faith cannot be neutral when families are put at risk,” Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director of Faith in Action, a national nonprofit, said to roaring applause.
“Protecting Haitian families protects Springfield,” he said.
Haitians in Springfield have been reordering their daily routines and considering whether to stay. Some have left for other U.S. cities. Others have emigrated to Canada.
Guerline Jozef, the executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a national Haitian advocacy organization, said from the stage that 100,000 children who are U.S. citizens could be separated from their parents if the status is revoked.
The extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians was “a moral test for America,” the Rev. Christopher Komoroski, a local Catholic priest, said. “It’s about who deserves safety, belonging and dignity.”
People who had parked a mile away and trudged over slippery, snowy sidewalks to show support for the Haitians were reluctant to leave after fire officials determined the church was well beyond its capacity.
Tim Hewett, 48, agreed to do so, knowing that others had come from much farther.
“I had to come here to show up with my fellow believers,” he said, and to support his Haitian neighbors.
Meg Sharp, 23, who had driven an hour from Columbus to attend, said, “I am scared Springfield will become the next Minneapolis.”
“I am terrified of these ICE agents,” she said. “I want to prove that we can stand up to them.”
Haitians who have arrived in Springfield over the last few years have filled jobs in manufacturing, distribution and the service sector that became available after the city created a revitalization plan that attracted new businesses to the area. Among the companies employing the Haitian immigrants are Amazon, Dole and Honda. Many workers have bought homes and have U.S.-born children in the city’s schools.
The Springfield City School District superintendent, Bob Hill, last month sent an email to the staff stating that the district was preparing for major immigration enforcement. But Mr. Hill and state officials later said that they had not received any specific information about federal activity.
The large influx of Haitians in Springfield, which began before the Covid-19 pandemic, strained some government services and had fueled tensions, even before Mr. Trump used the presidential debate to stoke the debunked rumors of pet abductions.
But his rhetoric put a spotlight on the city as he made immigration a core campaign issue and key to his agenda once he was elected. Since taking office, Mr. Trump has started a mass deportation campaign. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants in major U.S. cities, and demonstrators have clashed with the agents.
Polls show that Americans have supported Mr. Trump’s moves to seal the border and curb immigration amid a surge in unlawful entries when President Joseph R. Biden was in office. But backing for his immigration agenda has been slipping. Recent polls show that most Americans believe his tactics have gone too far.
Penny Sparks, 69, a lifelong resident of Springfield, said that she had to adjust to the newcomers.
“First people were scared because so many people were arriving at once. They were worried the city would be overwhelmed,” she said.
She has decided that Haitians are a blessing to Springfield, she said, and now she was concerned about the potential separation of families and the economic devastation that could ensue if they departed.
“We’ve grown to love them,” she said.
Miriam Jordan reports from a grass roots perspective on immigrants and their impact on the demographics, society and economy of the United States.
The post Ohio Church Swells With Support for Haitians as Deportation Threat Looms appeared first on New York Times.
