AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio, were already on edge after President Trump spread false rumors of them eating people's cats and dogs during his presidential campaign in 2024. Now they're living in fear as ICE activity intensifies in Springfield after the administration ended an immigration program allowing Haitians to live and work in the United States. As Kathryn Post of Religion News Service found, Springfield's Haitians are hiding in their homes, struggling to pay rent and too afraid to venture out for Sunday church services.
KATHRYN POST, BYLINE: On a recent August afternoon, about 75 people stood on the street corner outside Springfield City Hall in the sweltering heat, holding signs that read, love thy neighbor.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
PHILOMENE PHILOSTIN: We're walking together.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Yes.
PHILOSTIN: We're moving together.
POST: Local youth minister and community leader Philomene Philostin spoke of the intense pain some of those neighbors are feeling at this moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
PHILOSTIN: (Speaking Haitian Creole).
POST: She's speaking in Haitian Creole with a local pastor translating.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
PHILOSTIN: (Speaking Haitian Creole).
UNIDENTIFIED PASTOR: "We can't take it anymore. We cannot take it anymore. Haitians. Haitians.
POST: More than 10,000 Haitians live in this city. Since the Trump administration ended their temporary protected status this summer, many are getting letters ordering them to report to ICE offices near Cincinnati. There, according to immigration advocates, they are given two options - return to Haiti with $2,600 or leave with an ankle monitor and travel restrictions.
JAMES FLUERIJEAN: One hundred percent of them - they choose the ankle shackles because the whole world they know going back to Haiti is being placed in a death sentence.
POST: That's James Fluerijean, who works in the Haitian Support Center here in Springfield. The United Nations says over 2,000 Haitians have died by gang violence this year alone, and the U.S. State Department advises Americans not to travel to Haiti, quote, "for any reason," due to high crime, terrorism, kidnappings and unrest.
MICHELLE BOOMGAARD: Hi. How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I mean...
POST: The Reverend Michelle Boomgaard met with one of her Haitian parishioners at Christ Episcopal Church near downtown Springfield. The man had recently returned from a local ICE field office, where he had been outfitted with an ankle monitor. He requested NPR not use his name to avoid jeopardizing his asylum case.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Well, with all that going on, it's impossible to be fine.
POST: The man says he can't be OK right now.
MICHELLE BOOMGAARD: Are you able to talk to work? Do they understand?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I mean...
POST: The man explains that he works at a hospital. He worries that because of the ankle monitor, his patients will think he's a criminal.
FLUERIJEAN: I don't think anybody would be happy to be in a room at a hospital and have a criminal taking care of you.
POST: To be clear, this man isn't breaking the law. He has an active asylum case and a work permit. Others are not so lucky. Now they can't work or even drive a car.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAPING BOX)
POST: On a recent Friday afternoon, Pastor Viles Dorsainvil spent the day answering calls, meeting with fellow Haitians and packing boxes full of food for families who either are afraid to visit a grocery store or can't afford the basics anymore because they are not working. As we spoke, about a dozen people visited the center, many wearing ankle monitors.
VILES DORSAINVIL: Here we live one day at a time. We just can't predict what tomorrow will look like. So the day we see is the day we live in going to bed, asking God to protect us, to guide us and give us wisdom.
POST: Some Haitians are too fearful of ICE to come to the center at all. That fear is also emptying churches. Some have even canceled services. Pastor Fontil Daity's Pentecostal Church used to draw 80 worshippers.
FONTIL DAITY: The church is empty. This morning, I have service. It was me and God and the Holy Spirit, and then one of the members came in. I prayed for her, and then I let her go.
POST: Standing in a charcoal suit among the empty pews of the sanctuary, Pastor Daity said he sent his parishioner home after learning that ICE was in the neighborhood. As Haitians in the city live in hiding and cope with the stigma of ankle monitors, many are drawing comparisons to troubling chapters in American history.
DAITY: Sunday used to be the sacred day in America. But here we are. Now we arresting people, chasing people on Sunday, like slave - like a runaway slave. You know, it's very sad.
POST: In August, ICE has detained two Haitian pastors. Hundreds of faith leaders are heading to Springfield in the coming days, where they plan to demand the pastors' release and advocate for Haitians to be able to worship on Sundays without fear.
For NPR News in Springfield, Ohio, I'm Kathryn Post. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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