Trump Ends TPS for 350,000 Haitians, Reshaping Springfield Before Midterms

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Oct 21

Springfield, Ohio, is being remade by the loss of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, with residents, businesses and migrants describing a town emptied by deportation pressure weeks before the midterms.
June’s Supreme Court-backed move to end TPS for about 350,000 Haitians turned many from legal workers into deportable migrants, and the administration has paired it with ankle monitors, ICE check-ins and removal flights.
Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian student in Springfield, was ordered to report to ICE, fitted with an ankle monitor and later died after walking into highway traffic; his family blamed the humiliation of the tag.
Around 20,000 Haitians had arrived in Springfield over the past five years, filling low-paid factory and warehouse jobs, but shopkeepers now report collapsing business as workers lose legal status and fear raids.
Trump has cast Springfield as proof his crackdown is giving residents their town back, while the town’s split reaction underscores how immigration enforcement has become a defining issue in Ohio’s closely fought elections.