Update, Feb. 2, 2026: After this story originally published, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. blocked the Trump administration from terminating the TPS program that provided temporary deportation protections for Haitians, according to our partners at NOTUS. Several people following the case said prior to the judge’s ruling they expected any decision to be quickly appealed.

At a church in Springfield on Thursday night, an older man in the front pew held up a Ziploc sandwich bag of plastic orange “ICE whistles” and offered them to those seated in the rows behind him.

“You see ICE, you do three quick blasts,” he said, as the training, a mix of “know your rights” legal education and tactical training, started to wrap up. “You see them kidnapping someone, it’s one long blast.”

Residents, community leaders and government officials in the city increasingly believe an ICE raid is imminent. They can’t confirm it, but they’re still preparing.

The preparation is rooted in fear for some. At another moment in the church meeting, a Black woman stood up and said her 12-year-old grandson is “scared to death” while walking to and from school, worried he could be racially profiled by an ICE agent looking for an undocumented Haitian immigrant.

“I’m concerned about my family getting caught up in it because of our color,” Joyce said in an interview following the event, billed as a way for attendees to keep themselves and their neighbors safe. She asked that only her first name be used. “I’m afraid to leave my house. This is the first time I’ve done so today.”

City officials and community members in Springfield are bracing for the possibility of a large immigration enforcement action that could target the estimated 12,000 or more Haitians living in the area. Advocates and local leaders worry a large-scale operation could trigger widespread family separations and strain local social services. Many also have grown worried about the potential for violence and unrest, following recent events in Minneapolis. Federal agents fatally shot two protesters during immigration enforcement operations in the city, intensifying national scrutiny of how such actions are carried out.

At the same time, there is no public confirmation that such an operation is planned in Springfield. ICE has not announced any enforcement action, and the agency did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.

Still, fear has spread through parts of the community — and has shaped how local officials respond.

At the urging of concerned residents, the city commission last Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution encouraging ICE not to wear masks and to display identification badges when conducting enforcement actions in the city. 

Before introducing the resolution, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a Republican, read a statement that emphasized the city had “no confirmed information regarding immigration enforcement activity in our community.” 

“We may not get a phone call that an operation is happening,” Rue said. “If we do, it could be the very day it happens. We just don’t know.”

The resolution came a week after a meeting between city officials and Gov. Mike DeWine and other state officials about a potential ICE action. Springfield City Schools Superintendent Bob Hill described the meeting in a memo sent on Tuesday to school staff, saying city and state officials discussed an “enforcement window” of at least 30 days that might begin on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

After the Springfield News-Sun obtained the memo and reported its contents, school officials tried to walk back the story. As reported in a subsequent News-Sun story, Hill said in a follow-up statement he’d intended “to describe the limits of available information and general context based on actions in cities across the nation, not to convey that specific operational details were provided by the governor’s office or state agencies.”

A spokesperson for DeWine declined requests from Signal to interview the governor. But in a meeting with reporters and editors for the Columbus Dispatch last week, he referenced the meeting with Springfield city officials. “If ICE does in fact come in, comes in with a big operation, obviously we have to work this thing through and make sure people don’t get hurt,” DeWine said.

TPS expiration fuels anxiety

City officials are planning around a Feb. 3 deadline. That’s when federal officials are set to end what’s called Temporary Protected Status for 300,000 Haitians — the special legal status granted to Haitian immigrants in Springfield and around 275,000 others across the country under a government program for refugees from countries facing humanitarian crises. 

President Donald Trump’s administration announced in November that it would terminate TPS for Haitians by that date. If and when it takes effect — the order is subject to several pending lawsuits – the revocation won’t necessarily mean recipients will be immediately deported — although it does mean they no longer will be protected from it if targeted with an immigration enforcement action. 

City and state officials and community organizations, including several Christian churches and charities, launched a series of meetings and planning sessions after the November announcement. 

Many Haitian immigrants have decided to “lay low” as uncertainty about enforcement has grown, according to Viles Dorsainvil, the executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield, which was founded in 2023 to serve the growing local Haitian population. 

People have avoided leaving the house unless absolutely necessary, and a few have fled the area, although “a great number” of immigrants remain, Dorsainvil said. The center and a network of other groups have arranged to deliver food to people in need while they wait things out.

“They are living in constant fear because of the situation,” said Dorsainvil, who himself fled Haiti. “And it’s not good for the folks to be living in that constant fear, not knowing what to do. You become powerless in a situation like this.” 

‘Preparing for Mass Deportations‘

In early December, the local chapter of the NAACP held a town hall meeting billed as “Preparations for Mass Deportations.” 

The event, which local media reported drew more than 100 people, was held at a local historically Black church. Speakers included Mayor Rue and representatives of the city school district, the local health and police departments. 

NAACP Springfield President Denise Williams said a major concern raised at the meeting was the possibility that children could be separated from their parents if enforcement actions occur.

Local health officials estimate that about 1,300 U.S. citizen children have been born to Haitian parents in Springfield since 2021. Another 1,500 Haitian children — roughly 20% of the district’s enrollment — attend Springfield City Schools and are considered vulnerable to immigration enforcement affecting their families.

“If the kids come home from school and the parents are gone, what’s going to happen to the children? Who’s going to take them in?” Williams said in an interview.

Casey Rollins, executive director of the Catholic charity St. Vincent de Paul in Springfield, said her organization initially tried to convince families to proactively make legal guardianship arrangements for their kids in the event they’re separated.

But after finding little interest, they pivoted toward obtaining passports for the 1,300 children who are U.S. citizens. This could make it easier to travel with their parents back to Haiti or to any country where they might end up. For children who remain in the U.S., having a passport is practical, Rollins said. 

With donor support, St. Vincent de Paul has helped about 200 children obtain passports.

Rollins fears what happened in Minneapolis could be coming to Springfield soon.

“I don’t want to see children martyred in this,” Rollins said. “It’s bad enough that we adults can’t figure out our problems of the world. It’s far worse that the children have to be collateral damage of adult decisions.” 

Chris Cook, commissioner of the Clark County health department, said county social workers report that some Haitian families are making plans to take their children with them if they are removed or deported. Others are making arrangements for them to stay with friends or family, concluding conditions in Haiti are too dangerous. 

But Cook worries that Haitian parents will be detained while their children are at school, leaving those families without a choice. There are only about 20 certified foster families in Clark County, which could leave these kids with nowhere to go. 

“Furthermore, to be frank, I suspect that ICE doesn’t care about reunifying families if they are separated in this manner. This will likely result in some level of child care and guardianship crisis,” Cook said. 

Know your rights

Another focus of the December town hall was legal education, according to local news reports.

Katie Kersh, an immigration attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, directed attendees to the organization’s online “know your rights” materials, which are available in multiple languages, including Haitian Creole.

One document focuses on schools, and includes advice for school officials, such as suggesting they designate staff who can intercept ICE agents who may arrive at a school. School staff should require ICE to provide a warrant, which should be verified by a lawyer before access is granted, the document says.

Another significantly longer document is geared towards families. Its advice includes emergency planning, like information on how to obtain a passport and make guardianship arrangements for children. It also has a list of immigration detention center locations in Ohio, and the contact information for a dozen or so organizations that provide free or low-cost legal advice to immigrants 

It also includes some legal advice, such as telling people to only permit ICE to enter their home if they can show a warrant.

Kersh didn’t respond to a message seeking comment. But the Springfield News Sun’s account of Kersh’s remarks said, in a recent conversation with a Haitian community leader, she encouraged Haitians in Springfield to “feel empowered to make their own decisions” and said that citizens should protect “those who do not have that privilege.”

While most attendees at the town hall appeared supportive of the Haitian community, according to local news reports, some residents have criticized the organizing efforts and support the Trump administration’s push for deportations.

One of them is Ken “Barron” Seelig, a homeless advocate who gained a higher profile during the 2024 presidential race after the Trump campaign tweeted a video clip of Seelig confronting city commissioners over the influx of Haitian immigrants that he said had contributed to a local housing shortage. The issue had received national attention after Trump and other Republicans notoriously claimed without evidence that Haitian immigrants were eating neighborhood pets. Seelig ran for the city commission in 2025 as a write-in candidate, placing fourth but still getting hundreds of votes.

After attending the December town hall, Seelig announced on Facebook he was running for mayor to supportive reactions and comments. He subsequently decided against it. 

In an interview, Seelig recalled speakers describing their plans to hold trainings on how to resist ICE.

“We have churches training up on how to become sanctuaries for TPS recipients,” Seelig said in an interview. “They’re doing drills, ‘How to stop ICE agents.” It’s nuts, man.”

Seelig said he doesn’t fault Haitians for wanting to flee their home country and said he has no problem with them personally. He’s also skeptical that children actually will be separated from their parents, although he said it would be wrong if they are.

Seelig agrees with the pro-Hatian advocates in one area. He’s worried that what happened in Minnesota might be coming to Springfield.

“It’s a sad state of affairs,” Seelig said. “And I think it’s going to get really, really out of control.”