Late last week, calls poured into the Springfield Haitian Support Center. Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil said people were frantic.
"We received calls from individuals telling us that their family members were on the way home from work and the van was pulled over by ICE officers and there were seven of them in the van and they took five of them away," said Dorsainvil. "There was one that they did not take away by the fact that he had his green card and the woman who told them she has kids at home. They let her go. We also received a call as well from a woman telling us that ICE took her husband. So this is the new reality now."
Adding to Dorsainvil's frustration, several ICE agents stopped his younger brother in the city.
"He said he was being boxed in by three cars and ICE officers were asking him to show his paper," said Dorsainvil. "He showed them his green card and they did let him go."
WYSO reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about its activities in Springfield. In an email response the department said, “Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. DHS does not discuss ongoing or future operations.”
Increased ICE activity in Springfield comes after Temporary Protected Status for Haiti ended July 27. Springfield is home to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants. Many were under the protection of TPS.
Dorsainvil said these ICE actions are terrorizing the community.
"They are taking folks and that creates more fear and anxiety," said Dorsainvil. "If folks are working it means that they have a pending asylum case. I think they should allow them to have the process because many of them have court appointments, but they don't even allow them to allow the judge to work on their cases."
Dorsainvil said those apprehended are being held in the Butler County Jail.
He and his team are working to connect them with immigration attorneys who will handle their cases.
