The event was held less than 48 hours before TPS was expected to expire for potentially thousands of Springfield-area Haitians, putting their ability to legally live and work in the U.S. at risk. A federal judge issued a ruling Monday blocking the end of TPS.
It featured faith leaders both local and national, who shared messages of unity and compassion, while outlining several passages in the Bible that advocate for loving the oppressed and welcoming the stranger.
“We must understand that welcoming immigrants is as important as welcoming Christ himself, and that rejecting them, as in Christ’s own teaching, is a form of rejecting him,” Pastor Carl Ruby of Central Christian Church said. “These are not my words; they’re his.”
The church was packed with an estimated 1,200 people. Hundreds were asked to leave and watch a livestream per the fire marshal’s instructions.
Conditions in Haiti have deteriorated since TPS was first designated for the country. The U.S. State Department currently warns against traveling to the country “due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care.”
Area Haitian leader Vilès Dorsainvil said that Haitians cannot safely return to the country besieged by gang violence. He pointed to a United Nations report that says Haiti is facing a security crisis, with more than 1.2 million people internally displaced, which he said is the highest number in the country’s history.
“Even basic movement, going to school, to work or the hospital, is life threatening. This violence has created an unprecedented humanitarian disaster,” Dorsainvil said.
Guerline Jozef, founder of the national organization the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said that half a million Haitian lives “hang in the balance.”
“Half a million Haitians who have been calling this United States our home; some of them two years, four years, many of us 20-plus years,” Jozef said.
She asked the federal government for “dignity” and compassion for those in need. If TPS were not extended, Jozef said the country would see one of the “major family separations in modern history.”
“We are going to see over 100,000 U.S. born children being ripped from their families. We are going to witness those children when their parents are taken and deported without any support,” Jozef said. “What we are asking and demanding and urging and praying for is to keep those families together.”
Springfield is believed to have at least 1,300 children born in the country to Haitian immigrant parents, according to the Clark County Combined Health District. Efforts to obtain passports are ongoing to prevent family separation, though some are facing the tough decision whether to leave their children behind rather than bring them to an unstable, dangerous country.
TPS ending
Temporary Protected Status, the legal way by which many of Springfield’s estimated 10,000-15,000 Haitians are in the country legally, was set to end at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3 after a failed attempt by the Trump administration to end it sooner.
A federal district judge on Monday evening issued a ruling that blocked the Trump administration from terminating TPS for Haiti on Feb. 3, a decision impacting hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants in the country at risk of suddenly living here illegally.
At the Monday morning church event, statements in support of the Haitian community’s contribution to the city and for TPS to be redesignated were often met with standing ovations and cheers.
“This is what unity looks like,” Springfield NAACP President Denise Williams said, referring to the large congregation. She referred to Psalm 23:4 and urged people to embrace God in times of challenge.
Many praised Haitian immigrants’ contributions to the economy, schools, churches and the community at large
Pastor Jose Salas of Iglesia Hispana Emanuel in Springfield referred to a story in the Bible about Jesus asking for water from a well and a woman there questioning how he could do so as a foreigner. He said she would not have hesitated if she knew what Jesus would do, and encouraged a similar mindset now. Salas gave Dorsainvil a glass of water, a gesture met with enthusiastic support from the crowd.
Salas’ congregation is made up of many immigrants and he said he hoped the event Monday would encourage those who were anxious, fearful and depressed about the immigration situation in the country.
A statement from Archbishop Robert G. Casey of Cincinnati read by Father Chris Komoroski said that the times are “increasingly divisive and disturbing,” referring to the “uncertain future” faced by immigrants.
“All of humanity possesses a dignity given to us as God’s creation. Each of us, no matter our race, language, or creed, has been created in God’s image and likeness, only with this conviction of our sacred and shared identity as God’s sons and daughters, and we hope to only proclaim the possibility of peace amidst the uproar of these distressing times,” the archbishop stated.
The Rev. Kenny Felix, of Southern Baptist Church in Miami and president of the National Haitian Fellowship, said immigrants “have always been one of the main agents of the U.S. economic systems and have contributed to its growth over time,” expanding the workforce, driving innovation and starting businesses.
“I’m not just talking about those of today, but we could go way back, way back – perhaps even including those who came first, came on the Mayflower, and I’m not sure if they had visas there," Felix said.
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