Haitians meet fear with unity

[marmar]

Haitians in Springfield meet legal status fears with unity
Despite the devastation of the SCOTUS ruling, Haitian immigrants and their allies aren't giving up just yet

By Tatyana Tandanpolie
Staff Reporter
Published June 27, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — You can tell the last two years have drained Vilès Dorsainvil. The executive director of the Haitian Community Support Center in Springfield, Ohio, has fielded everything from false claims accusing his community of eating pets; Haitian residents facing unemployment then housing and food insecurity; interview upon interview as the government and courts sparred over their legal status. And through it all, he projected a calm and collected image.

It became clear Thursday morning that the Supreme Court’s ruling on temporary protected status, granted to immigrants from countries facing natural disaster, political violence and other extraordinary circumstances, for Haitians and Syrians was the final act that broke him.

“Today was the saddest day since I’ve been here because, as a foreigner in this land, I expected what I knew about the U.S.,” he said during a virtual press conference that morning. “I used to know a USA, where human dignity was valued — justice was valued — but it’s no longer this.”

In one of the last decision days of the season, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Department of Homeland Security in Mullin v. Doe, allowing the cancellation of TPS for Haitian and Syrian recipients to take effect. In mere moments, hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country became undocumented, and fears of what would happen to them and their mixed-citizenship families mounted.

....(snip)....

In Springfield, the small, post-industrial city 40 miles west of the state capital that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance cast into the spotlight in 2024, chaos set in quickly among its roughly 15,000 TPS holders. But as the sun began to set on an impromptu vigil in the courtyard of Springfield City Hall, Haitian Springfielders and their neighbors made clear they weren’t willing to give up so easily. ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/06/27/haitians-in-springfield-meet-legal-status-fears-with-unity/