Faith leaders and hundreds of supporters have gathered at a church in Springfield, Ohio, to support Haitian migrants fearing the end of their Temporary Protected Status in the U.S. The event Monday at St. John Missionary Baptist Church called for an extension of TPS, which is set to expire Tuesday.
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Congregants worship at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Springfield, Ohio. – In a church crowded to overcapacity, two-dozen faith leaders and their audience of hundreds sang and prayed together in unity Monday as a sign of support for Haitian migrants, some of whom fear their protected status in the United States may be ended this week. Religious leaders representing congregations from across the United States attended the event at Springfield’s St. John Missionary Baptist Church, demanding an extension of the Temporary Protection Status that has allowed thousands of Haitian migrants to legally arrive in Springfield in recent yearsin their homeland. The TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire Tuesday, and those gathered were hoping that a federal judge might intervene and issue a pause.“We believe in the legal system of this country of ours, we still believe. We believe that through the legal ways, the judge hopefully will rule in favor of current TPS holders today that will allow them to stay while we continue to fight,” Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, told the packed church. “We have been called for such a time as this to protect those who have nowhere else to go. They cannot go back to Haiti,” she said. So many people turned up for the church event that a fire marshal had to ask 150 to leave because the building had exceeded its 700-person capacity. Hundreds joined a choir clapping and singing: “You got to put one foot in front of the other and lead with love.”, who were shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. Some of the speakers evoked biblical passages while appealing for empathic treatment of migrants.for about 500,000 Haitians who were already in the U.S., including some who had lived in the country for more than a decade. DHS said conditions in the island nation had improved enough to allow their safe return. “It was never intended to be a de facto asylum program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades. The Trump administration is restoring integrity to our immigration system to keep our homeland and its people safe,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting there were no new enforcement operations to announce.TPS allows people already in the U.S. to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. Immigrants from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lebanon, had the protective status before President Donald Trump's second term started.while campaigning in 2024 for a second term, falsely accusing its members of eating their neighbor’s cats and dogs as heon his plans for an immigration crackdown. The false claims exacerbated fears about division and anti-immigrant sentiment in the mostly white, working class city of about 59,000 people. Since then, the Springfield's Haitians have lived in constant fear that has only been exacerbated by the federal immigration crackdowns happening in Minneapolis and other cities, said Viles Dorsainvil, leader of Springfield’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center. “As we are getting close to the end of the TPS, it has intensified the fear, the anxiety, the panic,” Dorsainvil said.Some of Springfield’s estimated 15,000 Haitians also sought comfort and divine intervention in their churches on Sunday. At the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, its pastor estimated that half of the congregants who regularly attend Sunday service stayed home.Flanked by the flags of Haiti and the United States, he advised his congregation to stay home as much as possible in case of immigration raids. He also offered a prayer for Trump and the Haitian community and reminded congregants to keep their faith in God. “The president is our president. He can take decisions. But he is limited,” he said. “God is unlimited.” After the service, Jerome Bazard, a member of the church, said ending TPS for Haitians would wreak havoc on his community. “They can’t go to Haiti because it’s not safe. Without the TPS, they can’t work. And if they can’t work, they can eat, they can’t pay bills. You’re killing the people,” he said. Many of the children in the Springfield Haitian community are U.S. citizens who have parents in the country illegally. If they are detained, Dorsainvil said some parents have signed caregiver affidavits that designate a legal guardian in hopes of keeping their kids out of foster care.Volunteers from nearby towns and from out of state have been calling the Haitian community center offering to deliver food for those afraid to leave home, Dorsainvil said. Others have been stockpiling groceries in case immigration officers do flood the community. Some, he said, have been receiving desperate calls from family members abroad asking them to leave. “They keep telling them that Springfield is not a safe place now for them to stay.”Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Crackdown on fentanyl leads to decreased overdoses, but new drug challenges emergeExtreme Cold Warning? Cold Weather Advisory? 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