By week’s end, we received no on-the-record comments from:
- U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, whose district currently includes Springfield
- Turner’s Democratic challenger Kristina Knickerbocker
- State Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield
- State Rep. Bernie Willis, R-Springfield
- Republican front-runner for Ohio governor Vivek Ramaswamy
- Democratic front-runner for Ohio governor Amy Acton
Gov. DeWine
DeWine on Friday criticized the Trump administration’s decision to end Haiti’s TPS designation. DeWine noted that Haiti was no safe place to return. In his words, “the gangs are controlling a good part of the country, it’s extremely violent, the economy’s in shambles, the government does not function, the police are virtually worthless, so this is a very, very dangerous place.”
The Republican governor also explained his concerns with the decision’s economic impact during a press briefing Friday morning.
“Imagine you’ve got thousands of people in Springfield, but also in the whole Miami Valley area, who are working, and, legally they can work one day — the next day, employers cannot employ them," DeWine said. “And, as we’ve (heard) from employers, they’re gonna follow the law.”
DeWine reiterated that it’s ultimately not his decision to make. “I’m the governor of Ohio. This is a decision for the federal government, this is a decision for the president of the United States,” he said. “I can’t do anything about that except express my concern that the policy is wrong.”
The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be on standby, DeWine said, in case they’re needed to help keep the peace in Springfield or any other Ohio town that might be impacted by federal immigration enforcement.
Sen. Moreno
A spokesperson for Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, Reagan McCarthy, sent this news outlet a statement on the situation Friday: “Senator Moreno has been clear: Temporary Protected Status was meant to be temporary.”
McCarthy added that President Donald Trump and the Republican Senate majority were elected, in part, for their promise to crack down on undocumented immigration.
Sen. Husted
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s communication team said they did not have any additional comment to provide to this outlet, instead pointing to a Thursday appearance the GOP senator made on CNN.
There, Husted said he believes the Trump administration is looking to “reset” its federal immigration enforcement after an ugly, prolonged situation in Minnesota resulted in two Americans intentionally shot and killed by federal immigration officers. Husted said the reset is represented by Trump’s recent decision to have White House Border Czar Tom Homan take over the federal response.
“I think it represents a reset, which I think is a good thing. Targeted enforcement is what they were supposed to be there doing, it escalated from that,” Husted said. “It’s time to reset and focus on what the mission is, which was to target violent criminals, people who were on the ‘worst of the worst’ list. I think that’s where they should focus.”
Husted urged all states to take on Ohio’s practice of alerting the federal government when an undocumented immigrant has been arrested for a violent crime, adding that such cooperation would preempt large-scale deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, like the one Minneapolis has seen.
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown, the Democratic former U.S. senator knocked out of Congress by Moreno who is now campaigning for Husted’s seat, released a statement Friday calling for the Trump administration to extend TPS, noting the potential economic hit Springfield would take and a humanitarian and logistical concern for the immigrants who would have to go back to Haiti.
“As I travel the state, I hear the same thing that Governor DeWine has heard from Ohioans: they are concerned about their Haitian neighbors and about the economic impact the expiration of TPS for Haitian Americans will have on their communities,” Brown said. “That’s why I’m calling on the Administration to extend TPS for Ohio’s Haitian community now.”
End of TPS
Temporary Protected Status, a longstanding humanitarian parole program meant to give foreigners respite in America if their home country is deemed unsafe to return to, is one of several federal initiatives credited with authorizing thousands of Haitian immigrants to live and work in Springfield.
The Trump administration opted not to extend Haiti’s TPS designation, though that decision is still facing a court challenge, and the upcoming expiration date is expected to leave large swaths of the local Haitian population without permission to live and work in the United States.
Just days before the deadline, it’s unclear how the federal administration intends to enforce its TPS decision, despite President Donald Trump’s campaign promises of an immigration crackdown in Springfield.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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