‘Fear of what’s to happen’: Haitians in Ohio city brace for Trump’s return

When then president Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security attempted to end temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians in 2017, Gilbert Fortil had just arrived in Springfield, Ohio.

Fortil, from Gonaïves in northern Haiti, has spent the years since then working to make a new life in Springfield. He has opened a radio station to serve the growing Haitian community, bought and renovated abandoned properties, and been joined by thousands of other Haitians who have helped revive a once-struggling town in western Ohio.

But while Trump’s first attempt to end TPS for Haitians ultimately failed, Fortil is under no illusions that once he returns to the White House on Monday, the legal landscape will look very different indeed.

“It’s not going to be like 2017. Didn’t you see what happened yesterday?” says Fortil, referencing the president-elect’s 10 January unconditional discharge sentencing for his hush-money conviction that saw him avoid punishment.

“The courts are not going to stop him like they did before.”

Trump’s efforts to remake the country’s judicial system during his first term had seen 234 of his nominees confirmed to lifetime positions by the Senate. Since his first failed attempt to overturn TPS, the supreme court has been reshaped to his liking by the addition of three conservative judges.

The comments and lies spread by Trump and Vice-President-elect JD Vance that immigrants such as Haitians were killing and eating pets have fueled visits to Springfield from neo-Nazi groups and false bomb threats at schools and city buildings. Since Trump’s election win in November, Haitians have begun leaving Springfield out of fear of being detained and deported.

“If you can’t work, you are illegal and you’re not going to stay here,” says Fortil, who says his own immigration status is not threatened by the possible end of TPS.

TPS is often granted to citizens of countries in conflict, humanitarian distress or civil unrest who are already in the US. Periods range from six to a maximum of 18 months and are regularly extended by the secretary for homeland security depending on the humanitarian and security situations in an applicant’s home country.

About 200,000 Haitians who have been granted TPS are allowed to stay in the US until February 2026, though Trump said in September that he planned to conduct mass deportations of Haitians in Springfield.

“In Haiti right now, it’s a really dangerous situation. If you go back you could die,” says Dady Fanfan, president of the Haitian Community Alliance who has lived in Springfield since 2020. “I don’t know if the new government is going to end TPS or not, but we need this.”

This month, the UN reported that about 5,600 people in Haiti were killed in gang violence last year – a 20% increase on 2023. At least 184 people were killed in a massacre in Port-au-Prince in December. Flights from the US to Haiti’s capital are banned until at least March.

Many Haitians in Springfield who have secured TPS have also applied for asylum to remain in the US. Immigration lawyers say that asylum hearings must be heard in court – even if an application is denied – a procedure that faces major backlogs and which can take more than four years to come before an immigration court.

In recent months, the city of Springfield has tried to alleviate concerns that some residents have attributed to the presence of Haitians. Ten driver training simulators were donated to the city in December in an effort to decrease the incidences of road accidents, for which Haitians have been blamed. Ohio’s official driver manual now has a version written in Haitian Kreyòl.

Still, Trump’s convincing presidential election win in November has had a chilling effect on many. While at the height of the furor caused by Trump in September, members of the city’s Haitian community and the non-profit groups openly spoke with media outlets, today few are willing to offer their thoughts. Emails to the Springfield mayor’s office from the Guardian seeking comment were not answered.

Fanfan says his real estate business has fallen off a cliff since Trump’s false accusations and deportation threats, as many Haitians are now leaving or avoiding coming to Springfield entirely.

Health professionals say they fear that the threat of deportation may lead to fewer people coming forward to get critical medical and health support.

Dr Yamini Teegala, executive director of the Rocking Horse Community Health Center where hundreds of Haitian and other immigrants receive healthcare every month, says her staff is preparing for the possibility that immigration authorities may turn up seeking information about immigrants.

“Not that I feel that is going to happen, but we want to be prepared,” she says.

“I’m more worried about if this is going to change the comfort of our patients to come see us. There’s a fear of what’s going to happen; that Haitian families are going to leave town proactively.”

An investigation by the Springfield News-Sun found that while about 80% of claims by Haitians for public assistance support in January and February 2024 in Clark county were approved, that fell to about 50% in October.

Despite claims from rightwing news outlets and extremist groups that Haitian immigrants were receiving public benefits en masse, more Haitians were denied public assistance support than granted it in October. The 92 Haitians granted support made up less than 13% of the county’s total number of grantees that month.

However, Fortil, who moved his radio station studio to a prominent downtown location last fall in part to help present a public face of Haitians to the local community, remains defiant in the face of the new administration in Washington DC.

“A lot of people have been asking: ‘what to do?’ But I tell people – hey, you’re legal,” he says.

“We love Springfield. I’m not closing my businesses.”