‘Springfield is under siege right now.’ ICE agents in Ohio have detained two Haitian pastors

More than 40 Haitians in Springfield have been detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement after President Donald Trump revoked their legal status earlier this summer. 

Faith leaders recently spoke out against the ICE activity that has been taking place in the Clark County city after a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to end temporary protected status for the 330,000 Haitians who’ve fled the violence in their home country. Legal protected status for Haitians officially ended on July 27.

Haitian Support Center Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil is a TPS holder with an asylum case pending. 

“I am calling out this administration to tell them that we deserve to be treated with dignity,” he said. “We deserve to be treated as human beings. We are not animals.”

Dorsainvil is one of about 15,000 Haitians who live in Springfield, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal status.

“They are not a threat to the community,” Dorsainvil said. 

First Baptist Church Pastor Adam Banks said Haitian people are not “political bargaining chips.”

“They are not threats to be monitored and removed,” he said. “They are care providers, co-workers, faith leaders, and family. … We demand an end to deportations that tear families and our community apart.”

ICE agents are detaining people in Springfield in shopping plazas, gas stations, and apartment complexes. 

“Springfield is under siege right now,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church.

Fellow Springfield pastor Gilbert Joubert Adrien was detained by ICE agents on Aug. 20 and advocates are calling for his release.

“We hope that will happen very, very soon,” Ruby said. “He needs to be out immediately. He is a good man with a congregation to serve, and they are without a pastor right now.”

A pastor from the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield was detained last week when he was in Northwest Ohio and he might be out of the country already, according to Ruby.

The general housing capacity for Butler County Jail is 844, even though the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction recommends 756 as the housing capacity, according to a 2025 ODRC inspection report.  

Haitians living in Springfield are being required to report to ICE offices in Blue Ash or Westerville and wear ankle monitors. 

“Being outfitted with that monitor, it just symbolizes slavery,” Dorsainvil said. 

He shared the story of a mother who came to the Haitian Support Center, having given birth a few weeks prior, but lost the baby.

“She could not even walk, but they put the shackle on her,” Dorsainvil said. “You cannot understand how hard it is to hear those people on a daily basis crying.”

Advocates are calling for an end to the ankle monitors. 

“It is inhumane,” Ruby said. “It is an insult. It is designed to humiliate, and we want it to stop right now.”

The pastor recently helped a Haitian family relocate to Canada. 

“Their children had survived kidnapping attempts when they were in Haiti,” he said. “Most families can’t go to Canada. It was only an option for this family because they had an immediate family member who was there.”

The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti “due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited healthcare,” according to the agency.

A top security official and chief of staff to the nation’s defense minister was kidnapped in June. 

The federal government promised Haitians who self-deport a free airplane ticket and a $2,600 check to return to Haiti. 

“They are not getting the money that our government has promised,” Ruby said.

He talked to a reporter in Haiti who shared that Haitians who are being deported are getting off the plane and running for their lives. 

 “It puts a target on them that says to the gangs, ‘come get this person.’ ” 

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