Hundreds pack an Ohio church to back extending protected status for Haitians in the US

SPRINGFIELD — In a church crowded to overcapacity, two-dozen faith leaders and their audience of hundreds sang and prayed together in unity Monday as a sign of support for Haitian migrants, some of whom fear their protected status in the United States may be ended this week. Religious leaders representing congregations from across the United States attended the event at Springfield's St. John Missionary Baptist Church, demanding an extension of the Temporary Protection Status that has allowed thousands of Haitian migrants to legally arrive in Springfield in recent years fleeing unrest and gang violence in their homeland. The TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire Tuesday, and those gathered were hoping a federal judge might intervene and issue a pause. "We believe in the legal system of this country of ours, we still believe. We believe that through the legal ways, the judge hopefully will rule in favor of current TPS holders today that will allow them to stay while we continue to fight," Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, told the packed church. "We have been called for such a time as this to protect those who have nowhere else to go. They cannot go back to Haiti," she said. So many people turned up for the church event that a fire marshal had to ask 150 to leave because the building had exceeded its 700-person capacity. Hundreds joined a choir clapping and singing: "You got to put one foot in front of the other and lead with love." They also observed a moment of silence for people who have died in federal immigration detention and for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. Some of the speakers evoked biblical passages while appealing for empathic treatment of migrants. Federal immigration crackdown and TPS The Department of Homeland Security announced last June that it would end TPS for Haitians who were already in the U.S., including some who had lived in the country for more than a decade. A congressional report indicates that about 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. would be affected. DHS said conditions in the island nation had improved enough to allow their safe return. "It was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that's how previous administrations have used it for decades. The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting there were no new enforcement operations to announce. A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule any day on a request to pause the TPS termination for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging it proceeds. TPS allows people already in the U.S. to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, had the protective status before President Donald Trump's second term started. The uncertainty over TPS has deepened worries for an already embattled Haitian community in Springfield. Trump denigrated the community while campaigning in 2024 for a second term, falsely accusing its members of eating their neighbor's cats and dogs as he pitched voters on his plans for an immigration crackdown. The false claims stoked fear and anti-immigrant sentiment in the mostly white, working class city of about 59,000 people. Since then, the Springfield's Haitians have lived in constant fear that has only been exacerbated by the federal immigration crackdowns happening in Minneapolis and other cities, said Viles Dorsainvil, leader of Springfield's Haitian Community Help and Support Center. "As we are getting close to the end of the TPS, it has intensified the fear, the anxiety, the panic," Dorsainvil said. Sunday church service Some of Springfield's estimated 15,000 Haitians also sought comfort and divine intervention in their churches on Sunday. At the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, the Rev. Reginald Silencieux estimated that half of the congregants who regularly attend Sunday service stayed home. "They don't know the future; they are very scared," he said. Flanked by the flags of Haiti and the United States, he advised his congregation to stay home as much as possible in case of immigration raids. He also offered a prayer for Trump and the Haitian community and reminded congregants to keep their faith in God. "The president is our president. He can take decisions. But he is limited," Silencieux said. "God is unlimited." After the service, congregant Jerome Bazard said ending TPS for Haitians would wreak havoc on the community. "They can't go to Haiti because it's not safe. Without the TPS, they can't work. And if they can't work, they can eat, they can't pay bills. You're killing the people," he said. Many of Springfield's Haitian children are U.S. citizens who have parents in the country illegally. If they are detained, Dorsainvil said some parents have signed caregiver affidavits that designate a legal guardian in hopes of keeping their kids out of foster care. "They're not sending their kids to school," he said. Volunteers from nearby towns and from out of state have been calling the Haitian community center offering to deliver food for those afraid to leave home, Dorsainvil said. Others have been stockpiling groceries in case immigration officers do flood the community. Some, he said, have been receiving desperate calls from family members abroad asking them to leave. "They keep telling them that Springfield is not a safe place now for them to stay." Associated Press reporter Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.