Temporary protected status was granted to Haitian immigrants in 2010 after a major earthquake in the country and has since been extended multiple times.
Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he would revoke the legal status of Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, and work to deport them back to their native country.
“It has nothing to do with Haiti or anything else. It doesn’t work. You have to remove the people, and you have to bring them back to their own country,” Trump told NewsNation on Oct. 2.
“Springfield is such a beautiful place. Have you seen what’s happened to it? It’s been overrun. You can’t do that to people. They have to be removed. Absolutely, I’d revoke [the status]. I’d bring them back to their country.”
He also said he doesn’t view the protection the immigrants have as legal.
Temporary protected status was granted to Haitian immigrants in 2010 after a major earthquake in the country. The designation was extended multiple times until, under Trump, the federal government announced that the designation would be ending. Legal challenges blocked that effort and the designation has since been extended through Feb. 3, 2026, by President Joe Biden’s administration.
Temporary protected status gives immigrants from certain countries the ability to legally work and live in the United States, even if they entered illegally. Officials grant the status when they find the immigrants’ home countries have conditions that make returning there unsafe.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in June that the extension was being granted because of ongoing violence and insecurity in Haiti.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants have come to the United States in recent years—the U.S. Census Bureau says some 852,000 are living in America as of February—with at least 15,000 going to Springfield.
Some residents there have expressed frustration over the influx, saying local institutions have been slow to serve Americans because of assistance being given to immigrants. Others, such as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, say the immigrants have helped fill jobs and contribute to the state in various ways.
Trump has campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigration by increasing deportations, ending some programs that the Biden administration has implemented, and strengthening barriers and staffing at the border.
The deportation effort would rely, in part, on local law enforcement who are familiar with the immigrants, he said. He said it would extend to other local communities in addition to Springfield.
Vice President Kamala Harris has said that she was heartbroken over schools and other places in Springfield closing because of threats that came into the city after officials and former officials started drawing attention to the influx of immigrants.
“The vast majority of us as Americans know we have so much more in common than what separates us. I know that. I know that regardless of someone’s background, their race, their gender, their geographic location—I know that people are deeply troubled by what is happening to that community in Springfield, Ohio,” she said in September during an event held by the National Association of Black Journalists. “And it’s got to stop.”
Biden used similar language in speaking to reporters, rebuffing recent allegations that the Haitian immigrants were abducting and eating residents’ cats and dogs.
Springfield’s strategic engagement manager, Karen Graves, told The Epoch Times in September that “there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
A police report obtained by government watchdog group Judicial Watch shows that at least one resident called to report her neighbors for allegedly stealing and chopping up her cat, and some residents have spoken in city meetings about dealing with animals going missing.
Jeff Louderback contributed to this report.