The group says that led to children being held in “cage-like detention facilities or shipped off to untold destinations.”
In Springfield, there are more than 1,200 American-born children of Haitian immigrants younger than 4, according to the Clark County Combined Health District.
“The President has repeatedly vowed to send those immigrants, most of whom live and work here legally, back to Haiti. If he does so, those immigrants’ children could be rendered stateless, with no official citizenship or passport from any nation,” Springfield G92’s news release said. “Without passports, these children would be stuck in legal limbo and might not be permitted to accompany their deported parents. In addition, there are no guarantees that Haiti will accept children who are not citizens of that deeply troubled nation.”
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling did not evaluate the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order to deny citizenship to people born in the U.S. to parents without legal permanent resident status. With the ruling stripping the ability of district judges to issue nationwide injunctions, the executive order could go into effect later this month and be enforced differently in different states, according to the nonpartisan American Immigration Council.
In some states, such as California or Maryland, where there are ongoing cases and specific court orders staying the executive order, a baby born to immigrant parents without status could be issued a U.S. birth certificate, according to AIC. A baby born in some other states the same day could not be recognized as a citizen, depending on lower federal court actions and if new lawsuits are filed.
The Biden administration had extended Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status through at least Feb. 3, 2026, due to gang violence, political unrest, a major earthquake in 2021 and several other factors, according to court documents.
The Department of Homeland Security late last month announced it was terminating those legal protections as soon as Sept. 2, setting Haitians up for potential deportation. The department said the conditions in the country had improved and Haitians no longer met the conditions for the temporary legal protections.
Last week a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending the TPS program early.
In Haiti, severe poverty and political instability have been worsened by a series of natural disasters. In 2021, Haiti’s president was assassinated. In 2023, the U.S. ordered all non-essential personnel to leave the country. In March 2024, a state of emergency was declared as violent gangs had taken over much of the country. Last fall, the largest airport was closed because gangs were firing at planes.
The U.S. government’s State Department has had a “Do Not Travel” advisory on Haiti for more than nine months, citing “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.”
A travel ban on 12 countries — Haiti, Afghanistan, Chad, Myanmar, the Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Sudan — took effect June 9.
Immigration experts, like senior attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Katie Kersh, have advised immigrants with children to carry notarized power of attorney documents, along with lists of their children’s schools and other resources to ensure that if they get separated from their parents, someone can take care of them.
Children whose families have no plans or custodial arrangements “are vulnerable to becoming orphaned by detained and deported parents, held in custody as dependents of the state, and then placed with foster families indefinitely,” Springfield G92 said.
The city’s existing foster care system is not equipped to handle so many children, having 17 qualified foster families, the group said. That could lead many children to “disappear in the greater Ohio (or beyond) foster care system in untraceable unfamiliar location.”
“They would become wards of an administration that has already proven incapable of caring for or ever reuniting immigrant children with their grieving families,” Springfield G92 said.
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