Photo credit: Cincinnati Inquirer
Donald Trump’s administration is summoning Haitian immigrants in Ohio to immigration offices to either be immediately removed from the country or forced to wear ankle monitors before they face a deportation hearing.
The Independent reports that dozens of immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, with Temporary Protected Status were called into Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in recent days only to be outfitted with monitoring devices and blocked from travelling outside a 75-mile radius from their homes, according to legal and advocacy groups representing them.
Roughly 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in the Springfield area, many of whom were protected by TPS until a Supreme Court decision in June opened the door for the administration to revoke the protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians in the US and their families.
The administration’s cancellation of key humanitarian protections for thousands of Haitians has thrown their families, advocates and employers into an uncertain future as they fear the loss of legal status could make them vulnerable to arrest and removal to a country plagued by violence, political instability and economic hardship.
“It is so humiliating to see parents, fathers and mothers, who have not been committing any crime now with some type of ankle bracelets on their feet,” Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of Springfield’s Haitian Community Help and Support Centre, told reporters. “That has created so much fear.”
Letters to TPS holders from ICE officials tell recipients to bring “any and all immigration documents” to their offices within 30 days. “It is important that you keep this appointment and bring this letter with you,” the letter reads. “If you are unable to do so, state your reason, sign below, and return this letter to this office at once.”
A spokesperson for Homeland Security told The Independent that the agency “does not discuss ongoing or future operations.”
