Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have raised concerns after being fitted with electronic ankle monitors following appointments with US immigration authorities, a move community leaders have described as degrading.
Executive Director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Vilès Dorsainvil, said the development has left many members of the Haitian community distressed.
“I was crying,” Dorsainvil told The Haitian Times on Sunday. “This is a new humiliation.
“That is something you do with criminals. It’s like bringing back slavery days.”
Responding to enquiries, a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the agency carries out law enforcement operations nationwide to protect Americans but does not comment on ongoing or future activities.
“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that—temporary,” the spokesperson said. “What we would say now is it’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. The good news is it’s not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home.”
According to Dorsainvil, members of the Haitian Support Center, alongside immigration lawyers and advocates, accompanied 10 Haitians to an immigration facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, on Sunday after they received official notices directing them to appear.
He explained that the letters began arriving shortly after a US District Judge lifted an order that had temporarily blocked the revocation of Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programme.
The notices were reportedly issued to Haitians with pending asylum applications who entered the United States through the humanitarian parole programme introduced during the Biden administration.
Dorsainvil said many recipients sought help from the Haitian Support Center, whose volunteers provided transportation and interpretation services in Haitian Creole. Lawyers from the legal aid organisation ABLE also questioned the requirement but were reportedly informed that immigration officers were acting under higher directives.
“They said they had to put it on because it was an order coming from the top,” Dorsainvil said after attending a solidarity rally outside the immigration facility.
He described the monitoring devices as humiliating, noting that one woman with diabetes expressed fears that wearing the ankle monitor could worsen her health if she sustained an injury.
Dorsainvil stressed that the affected individuals had entered the United States legally through humanitarian parole or had filed asylum claims while also benefiting from TPS, which allows eligible migrants to live and work legally.
“At the end of the day, it was the US government who allowed them to come here,” he said. “If the US government does not want them anymore, I think they have the right to appear before a judge, and the judge could decide what they want to do with them.”
The latest development follows a June US Supreme Court ruling allowing the administration to move forward with ending TPS protections for Haitians. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has announced new measures aimed at accelerating deportation proceedings, including changes affecting asylum seekers with pending claims.
On its website, DHS explains that some non-citizens awaiting immigration court proceedings may be released temporarily after screening but are required to report regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency notes that such individuals “may be given ankle monitors or similar electronic devices.”
The decision has sparked protests, with hundreds of demonstrators gathering outside the Blue Ash facility to show support for the affected Haitians and oppose the use of electronic monitoring.
Springfield has remained at the centre of national immigration debates since President Donald Trump repeated widely disputed claims about Haitian migrants in the city during the 2024 election campaign.
Dorsainvil argued that because similar monitoring measures have not been widely reported in other cities with large Haitian populations, Springfield residents appear to be receiving different treatment.
