Monday’s ruling came just over 24 hours before TPS status was set to expire for some 350,000 Haitians. The U.S. district judge wrote that DHS Secretary Noem’s ‘approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them.’
Religious leaders representing congregations from across the U.S. attended the event, demanding an extension of the TPS that has allowed Haitian migrants to legally arrive in Springfield in recent years fleeing unrest and gang violence in their homeland.
Over a year since Donald Trump and JD Vance spread falsehoods about the city’s migrants eating pets, Haitians’ temporary protected status is set to run out Feb. 3.
The decision gives Haitian migrants ‘a little bit of relief,’ said Springfield, Ohio-based Pastor Viles Dorsainvil, one of the plaintiffs.
At St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the Rev. Jean Beniste, a Haitian immigrant and Episcopal priest turned internet curses into blessings during an annual blessing of the animals, held in honor of St. Francis.
Vance’s remarks seemed aimed at quelling some of the controversy that sprang up after he and Donald Trump falsely accused Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, of eating townspeople’s pets.
'It's gone on far too long, and we won't be silent anymore,' said civil rights champion the Rev. William Barber II.
This issue of A Public Witness treks to Ohio to consider how Christians have been supporting Haitian immigrants before and since the vile politics of the past week.
The viral racist rumors are being fueled primarily by former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, and violent threats against the community are upending daily life in Springfield.