Haitians in Springfield are still under attack

The Haitians of Springfield Are Under Attack Yet Again – Mother Jones
Since Trump and JD Vance spread racist rumors now over a year ago about Haitian people in Springfield, Ohio eating people’s pets, the terror has never stopped. Both Haitian people and those who seek to help the Haitian community in Springfield have been targeted with bomb threats, ICE raids, TikTok rumors alleging human trafficking by aid organizations, and the list goes on and on.

Threatened by the ending of TPS (Temporary Protected Status), which has now been delayed due to a lawsuit currently working its way through the judicial system, the Haitians of Springfield Ohio were mostly welcomed with open arms by a city struggling with shrinkage of its population and workforce, and with the understanding that for many a return to Haiti could be a death sentence. Churches and their clergy helped set up infrastructure to welcome the newcomers into their city, and business owners, neighbors and local politicians sought to meet the needs of people who caused their city to grow and jobs to be filled.

Yet the threat of ending TPS along with the racial terror fueled by the Trump administration has not only threatened the Haitian community in Springfield, but it has rippled out, with bomb threats being called in to local synagogues, churches, and even municipal buildings. Those with TPS have had their drivers licenses expire even though the TPS lawsuit has not been settled yet. And community members have been aiding the Haitian community in getting US passports for their children who have been born in Springfield, for fear that ICE raids could happen at any moment and children could be left without guardians.

This story feels especially notable during Black History Month, and at a time when we are also acutely aware of the conspiracy theories being spread about Somali immigrants in Minneapolis. We know this is how white supremacy works: it feeds on fear, misinformation, and racism to attack our most vulnerable neighbors. Take Action for Haitian immigrants in the US: Donate your airline miles, translation services, or just follow the Haitian Bridge Alliance’s social media page

Minnesota school districts say federal agents still causing daily disruptions | MPR News
Despite the draw down of federal agents in MN, ICE continues to terrorize students and families in schools around Minneapolis, where superintendent Brenda Lewis spends her days patrolling for ICE in and around the schools in her district. She has cancelled school days when her staff feels like it’s unsafe to come in, put up signs to make sure federal agents know they are not allowed to use school parking lots as staging areas for raids, offered ongoing online learning to families in her district who feel like they can’t leave their houses, and has been followed by agents while patrolling.

“Our families are probably going to be our best tellers of if they feel safe or not,” Lewis said. “I think I gave myself a little bit of false hope that I thought today (the surge) would be, like, done. And then when those reports (of ICE activity) came in, it just … hurts your soul.” Lewis continues to work with her staff on a daily basis around how they can keep families in the district safe. It’s an ongoing battle they feel like they haven’t gotten a rest from since the surge started.

Baltimore County passes emergency bill prohibiting private detention facilities
An emergency bill preventing private detention facilities in Baltimore County unanimously passed Tuesday, February 10 during an emergency session after learning that the U.S. General Services Administration leased office space in Cockeysville, Maryland.

Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier's office does not believe the Cockeysville location will be a detention center. However, the bill, which goes into effect immediately, is a preventative measure to stop any private detention facilities in the future.

Although it isn’t clear what work is currently being done at the Cockeysville office, the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor and Law Practice Division (the legal arm of ICE), has active job postings, which include vacancies in Baltimore, according to a federal hiring website.

The council said while it can't control the federal buildings in the county, it can limit how private property is used by the federal agencies, which includes revoking any permit filed for a detention center.

In another effort to limit federal agents in the county, Council member Patoka introduced a bill to ban facial coverings for law enforcement. It will have a public hearing on February 24. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it is expanding its ICE workforce, and has added 12,000 ICE officers since last summer - a 120% increase in the workforce.

A similar bill was recently passed in Howard County to revoke a building permit that detailed renovations to tenant spaces, supported areas, detention facilities, detainee processing and secured waiting areas. The law went into effect immediately.

US citizen shot and killed by federal immigration agent last year, new records show | Trump administration | The Guardian
DHS shot and killed a 23 year old US citizen last March, and covered it up for almost a year. 23 year old Ruben Ray Martinez was shot and killed during an HSI raid on March 15th 2025. The incident, involving a check point stop where ICE and local police asked Martinez to stop and pull over, bears a striking similarity to other more recent incidents where ICE has shot into people’s cars, either seriously injuring or killing them.

The incident report provided by DHS blames Martinez for his own death, saying that he tried to run over an ICE officer who then fired shots directly into the driver's side window. A week after her son was shot, Rachel Reyes, Martinez’ mother, was informed that he was shot by an ICE agent. Later on, a Texas Ranger charged with investigating his death contacted Reyes and told her that the ICE report of the shooting contradicted video footage of what happened. Although the investigation is still ongoing, ICE not only lied about what happened, but covered it up from the public for nearly a full year.

Political Education corner:

This past week, the podcast Movement Memos interviewed Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps. It’s a great interview about what it means to live under a concentration camp regime, and how we can fight back.

Rumeysa Ozturk, the student who was detained by ICE for writing an editorial about Gaza in her college newspaper, has written a beautiful oped for The Guardian: After my ICE arrest, I learned one crucial way to respond to trauma. We can all take part | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

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