Ankle monitors and deportation fears grip Ohio’s Haitian community

NEW YORK (MNTV) — Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are facing electronic monitoring and the threat of deportation as the Trump administration moves to end humanitarian protections for thousands of Haitians, according to legal advocates.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has summoned Haitian immigrants to government offices, where some were fitted with ankle-monitor devices while awaiting immigration hearings, advocates say; several were also barred from traveling beyond 75 miles of their homes. The actions target people relying on Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program letting immigrants from countries hit by conflict, disaster, or instability live legally in the US.

About 15,000 Haitians live in the Springfield area, many under TPS. A recent Supreme Court decision cleared the way for the administration to end those protections nationwide, exposing families who have not been accused of any crime to possible detention and removal to a country facing severe insecurity.

“It is so humiliating to see parents… who have not been committing any crime now with some type of ankle bracelets on their feet,” said Viles Dorsainvil of Springfield’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center. Advocates say placing longtime residents under surveillance without criminal allegations is punitive; supporters of stricter enforcement argue the administration has authority to end temporary protections. For many families, advocates warn, the change threatens jobs, stability, and years of community ties.