BLUE ASH, Ohio — “Let them stay!” chanted hundreds of supporters of the right of Haitians who had been living and working in the U.S. for years under the government’s Temporary Protected Status program to remain in the U.S. They lined the streets outside the Department of Homeland Security building Aug. 9 in this suburb of Cincinnati.
Assembling at 7 a.m., over 700 people gathered for the second Sunday in a row to protest the end of TPS protections and to provide support to immigrants summoned to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office here to be questioned.
TPS protections for some 350,000 Haitians, along with 6,100 Syrians, were terminated June 25, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law establishing TPS grants the president the power to continue or end these programs. The government has now begun issuing letters to some 15,000 Haitians who live in Springfield and Columbus.
Haitians first became eligible for TPS after a devastating 2010 earthquake. Since then, additional earthquakes, massive hurricanes, a cholera epidemic and the collapse of the central government have left the country in deep crisis. Armed gangs control most of Port-au-Prince, the capital.
The U.S. government has issued its highest warning urging U.S. citizens not to travel to Haiti. But for Haitians on TPS, Washington insists it is safe to return.
‘Immigrants welcome here’
Vilas Dorsanvil, director of the Springfield Haitian Support Center, escorted residents to their appointments. As people entered the ICE office, the crowd chanted: “No hate! No fear! Immigrants welcome here!”
He pointed to the humiliating ankle bracelets they came out wearing, after already having been stripped of their work permits and driver’s licenses. This creates a stereotype around them, Dorsanvil told WVXU News. “So many fathers and mothers don’t want their children to see them with the monitors.”
“I’m here because I believe the current administration is carrying out an inhumane and unjust campaign against immigrants,” retired teacher Robyn Allgeyer told the Militant. “They’re our neighbors, friends and family.”
Small-business owner Ronald Robinson said, “My mother is Haitian and she taught us the history of the Haitian Revolution, how the Haitian people were the only enslaved people to successfully free themselves from their enslavers. Haitians are a strong, proud, hard-working people.”
John Hawkins, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Ohio, and several supporters of the campaign joined the demonstration. “We explained the union movement needs to fight for amnesty for all immigrant workers in the U.S. in order to unify the working class,” campaign supporter Sergio Zambrana from Pittsburgh, said.