Members of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund are keeping an eye on Springfield as Haitians with Temporary Protected Status remain in limbo.
Representatives with national civil rights organization want to better understand the challenges facing the area's 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants.
NAACP Springfield Chapter President Denise Williams believes these meetings will help the community better prepare if ICE agents begin arresting the city’s Haitians.
"They were giving us some ideas on how to mobilize and how we can continue to support our Haitian brothers and sisters," Williams said.
She said one of the ideas was creating a hotline.
"But we've got to talk about that, because everything is still fluid," Williams said.
Early February, a federal district judge stopped — for now — the expiration of for Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. But her decision did not set a new TPS expiration date.
For many of these immigrants, their work permits and driver licenses expired Feb. 3. However, TPS holding Haitians are allowed to work and are able to renew their driver license as long as they are updated in the national E-Verify database.
Viles Dorsainvil is in the Springfield area with TPS. The executive director of the Haitian Support Center called this more evidence that U.S. immigration laws need to be revised.
"Get the bad guys out, yes, but if you're an immigrant and you've been in the country for a long time, you pay taxes, you're a good worker, there should be an easy access for green card citizenship," Dorsainvil said.
According to Dorsanvil, the complexities of the U.S. immigration system are confusing and employers are reluctant to train and hire TPS-holding Haitians who may be suddenly deported.
