Following the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the termination of Temporary Protected Status, federal immigration authorities have deported people to Haiti as faith leaders and community members launch a 40-mile march from Springfield, Ohio, to Columbus demanding an end to tracking monitors and sudden removals.
Supreme Court Ends Protections for Haitians
The legal framework protecting hundreds of thousands of migrants collapsed this past summer when the Supreme Court allowed the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. The Department of Homeland Security argued that conditions had changed sufficiently for nationals to return, stating in its revocation notice that there are no extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti that prevent Haitian nationals…from returning in safety,
even as the State Department maintained a Level 4 travel advisory warning citizens against visiting the country for any reason. Congress established the status in 1990, and the government has designated 29 countries for TPS since then, offering protection to Salvadorans fleeing a 12-year civil war and Haitians fleeing the 2010 earthquake. Although some designations have been brief, others have lasted decades. Pointing out observations by the Migration Policy Institute, because Congress failed to pass legislation providing a pathway to legal status for long-term undocumented residents, both Democratic and Republican administrations, lawmakers, foreign governments, and immigrants themselves had grown to rely on TPS as a de facto permanent measure despite its official temporary label.
According to the Congressional Research Service, over 600,000 Venezuelans, 330,000 Haitians, 170,000 Salvadorans, and 100,000 Ukrainians held TPS protections as of March 2025. By August 2026, the administration had ended TPS for 13 countries, leaving one million people without its protections, with individuals reverting to their previous undocumented status.
The decision directly impacts an estimated 350,000 Haitians nationwide who had previously built lives under the program. For communities like Springfield, Ohio — home to between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitian residents — the ruling dismantled work permits and driver’s licenses, leaving families facing immediate administrative vulnerability and the looming threat of sudden apprehension.
Deportation Flights Land in Cap-Haitien
Detainees arrive in white sweatsuits and shackles at the northern city of Cap-Haitien, frequently lacking phones, money, or identification. Some arrivals are picked up by waiting relatives who live nearby, but many must figure out how to reach family in other parts of the country like Port-au-Prince, located about 125 miles away, while buses and taxis require traversing major roads controlled by gangs that set up roadblocks.
Faith Leaders Launch March to Columbus
In response to the crackdown, faith leaders and Haitian community members gathered at the Springfield City Plaza at 7:30 a.m. to begin a four-day, 40-mile march to the Ohio statehouse in Columbus. Demonstrators outlined four core demands: officially ending the electronic ankle monitor program, removing ICE operations from Springfield, returning detained family members and pastors, and securing permanent protected status for Haitian nationals.
The mobilization follows mounting community grief, including the August 31 death of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel. An honors student, athlete, and cadet in a school program preparing future officers for the U.S. Armed Forces who arrived in Springfield in 2024, Bel had been summoned to an ICE office and fitted with an electronic ankle monitor before walking into a roadway and dying near Springfield. While family friends point to the severe psychological distress caused by the monitoring device, immigration authorities have rejected responsibility for the incident, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to press inquiries regarding his case.
Archbishop Casey Celebrates Solidarity Mass
Amid ongoing legal battles in Cleveland courts where affected residents seek to secure legal status, local institutions have turned toward spiritual and material support. Archbishop Robert Casey traveled to St. Raphael Church in Springfield on the evening of October 14 to celebrate a Solidarity Mass in Memory of St. Callistus alongside Governor Mike DeWine and his wife, local pastor Father Robert Hale, Father Fritzner Valcin from Columbus, local parochial vicars, and six other concelebrating priests. Portions of the evening’s Mass were spoken in Haitian Creole.
We have to look upon our neighbor through the eyes of Christ and not our own.
Archbishop Robert Casey
Organizations such as Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, the Sisters of Charity, the archdiocesan Catholic Social Action Office, and local and national leaders of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul were present to provide support. Marc Joseph, an immigrant, U.S. Army veteran, and staff member working daily with Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio in Springfield, draws on personal history — having witnessed the killing of his wife’s brother (a Haitian police officer) in 2019, the assassination of his older brother who worked in immigration services in 2021, and the killing of his aunt and two cousins in gang violence in 2023 — to assist arriving families. Tony Stieritz, CEO of Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, noted that Joseph brings empathy and determination to his work, quickly connecting his own experiences to the stories of the people he serves. A community worship service was also scheduled at Champion City Church on South Hubert Avenue.