DeWine says feds have no plans for immigration raids in Springfield

NewsGov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday said federal officials have no plans right now to conduct immigration raids in Springfield, home to thousands of Haitian refugees. DeWine fielded questions from journalists at length as he opened the Ohio State Fair.Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.comCOLUMBUS, Ohio -- Federal officials have no plans right now to conduct immigration raids in Springfield, Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday, pushing back on reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was preparing deportation operations for Ohio.“Federal officials are now telling us that they do not have any plans,” DeWine told reporters. “They have received no instructions to have any kind of raids in Springfield.”About 15,000 Haitians live in the Springfield area. Many came to the city legally under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a humanitarian program that allowed them to live and work in the country until the Trump administration ended it Monday.On the eve of that deadline, CBS News reported on internal ICE documents outlining plans for deportation operations in several states, including Ohio. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment, saying it does not discuss ongoing or future operations.But immigration advocates say many Haitian families are staying indoors, avoiding unnecessary trips and waiting to see what happens.“I don’t know what to expect,” Central Christian Church senior pastor Carl Ruby said. “I expect they are going to do something.”Ruby, who has been working with Springfield’s Haitian community for years, said the people he’s spoken to are “just terrified for their physical safety.” The Federal Aviation Administration has a ban on commercial flights to Haiti’s capital due to safety concerns, and the U.S. State Department says Americans should not travel to Haiti because of widespread violence, kidnappings and civil unrest.“Haiti is a horrible place today. It’s a dysfunctional government, dysfunctional place,” DeWine said. “It’s chaos there, and it’s more dangerous than it’s ever been.”Still, as much as he disagrees with the decision to end TPS protections for Haitians, he said Ohio will follow the law and not interfere with federal operations. Fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted said DHS told him it was focused on criminal immigration violators, not broad deportation operations.Ruby hopes that’s true but said, “There is a very low level of trust in ICE right now.”As a statehouse reporter for Cleveland.com, I write about all things Ohio politics with a focus on elections, marijuana policy, social issues, budgets, redistricting, public pensions, immigration in Ohio and...