By Karen Roach
Dimensions @ Adobe Stock
Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, where news reports famously said that they were eating pets, are packing up their bags and heading for sanctuary cities, and even Canada after Donald Trump’s win. Trump has promised to end the temporary legal status given to Haitian immigrants by the Biden administration. Perry Chiaramonte reports:
In the wake of President Trump’s re-election, the Haitian immigrant population of Springfield, Ohio — a focal point of his campaign that highlighted strict reform measures — are fleeing the midwestern town over fears they will be the target of mass deportation.
Leaders of Springfield’s Haitian community tell the Guardian that in recent days, many of the migrants in the city expressed their fears that they will be rounded up as part of a mass deportation effort once Trump takes office in January.
“People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation,” Haitian Community Alliance co-founder Jacob Payne said to the newspaper. “Several of my customers have left. One guy with his family went to New Jersey. Others have gone to Boston. I know three families that have gone to Canada.”
Trump has been clear with his intentions for America’s migrant crisis since the presidential campaign, saying that he would end the temporary protected status provision and deport those currently in the country as a result of TPS — including much of the town’s Haitian population.
Thousands out of the 200,000 Haitian migrants in America settled at Springfield due to a low cost of living and available jobs.
Margery Koveleski, who has long helped the migrant population navigate through the bureaucratic process of obtaining legal immigrant status, told the Guardian that those still at Springfield are scrambling to figure out how to leave the region.
“Some folks don’t have credit cards or access to the internet, and they want to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket, so we help them book a flight. People are Leaving,” she said.
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