ICE crackdown targets Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio

Michaelle Louis and dozens of activists from Springfield, Ohio, are marching toward the statehouse in Columbus after months of fear as ICE stepped up enforcement targeting the city’s Haitian residents. Louis says she spent five days last August hiding with family in her basement and cutting daytime electricity to avoid ICE visits after agents began patrolling streets, speeding after vehicles and causing crashes. Springfield, a town of about 60,000 that began receiving Haitian arrivals eight years ago to fill hundreds of blue-collar jobs, was hit after a Supreme Court ruling allowed the Trump administration to end temporary protected status for more than 350,000 Haitian nationals in July. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in September that ICE had detained 380 people in Springfield. Resident Sean Moorman sued seven ICE officers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, alleging agents cornered his car, photographed his home while his wife was inside, and tried to intimidate him; a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against those officers and ordered ICE to stop retaliatory actions. Many of the named officers were reportedly moved out of state and the judicial order expired on 18 September. David Carey, managing legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, said ICE shuffled officers rather than allow accountability; local organizers are pressing for dignity and better rights for Haitian immigrants as legal challenges continue.