Former President Donald Trump is vowing to eliminate Temporary Protected Status and deport Haitian migrants residing in Springfield, Ohio — marking a significant escalation in his rhetoric against a community that his campaign has frequently targeted with misinformation over recent weeks.
“Absolutely, I’d revoke it and I’d send them back to their home country,” Trump asserted in an interview with NewsNation.
The GOP presidential candidate’s aggressive stance against the Springfield migrants has been a focal point of his campaign lately, highlighted by his controversial accusation during a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, where he claimed the migrants were consuming their neighbors’ pets — a completely unfounded assertion that nonetheless incited bomb threats aimed at local schools. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, had shared these claims on social media in the lead-up to the debate.
In his discussion with NewsNation, Trump remarked that the surge of migrants in the area “just doesn’t work” and emphasized that “you have to remove the people; we cannot destroy our country.” According to the Associated Press, approximately 15,000 Haitian migrants have moved to Springfield in recent years.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows migrants to remain in the United States when their home countries are deemed unsafe for return. This can be due to armed conflicts, environmental disasters, or other precarious conditions. Currently, there are 16 nations whose citizens are eligible for TPS in the U.S. As of March 31, over 860,000 individuals in the U.S. held this temporary status according to the American Immigration Council.
Despite facing significant backlash for their discourse surrounding the migrants in Springfield, both Vance and Trump have maintained their positions. “I’m still going to keep on discussing what the migrants have done to Springfield, Ohio, and the impact of Kamala Harris’ open border policy on Springfield, Ohio,” Vance stated in mid-September during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Some supporters of Trump believe that his sustained attention on Springfield may be diverting focus from other campaign issues. Additionally, Harris has called for an end to Trump’s rhetoric towards the migrants.
“Regardless of someone’s background, race, gender, or geographical location, I know that the situation facing that community in Springfield, Ohio, is deeply troubling to many, and it has got to stop,” Harris expressed in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in September.
