The Department of Homeland Security recently vacated a Biden administration decision, meaning Haiti’s current TPS designation will expire in August instead of in February 2026 as originally scheduled. Many of the local Haitians have been here for years, obtained work permits and employment.
“As employment increases, consumption increases,” said Bud Downing, co-owner of employment agency Express Employment Professionals. “As consumption increases, manufacturing increases. The pie gets bigger, and I think that’s what a lot of folks miss today, is the more people we have contributing, the more activity that happens in the economic consumer realm. Businesses flourish, consumers flourish, consumption goes up, manufacturing goes up.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Data shows the majority of Haitian immigrants are working outside of Clark County, Horton Hobbs, vice president of economic development for the Greater Springfield Partnership said previously. He said he believes they are working in surrounding counties and bringing money back to Springfield.
Haitian immigrants make up much of the workforce in local manufacturing at places like Topre America Corp., Yamada and McGregor Metal. Many businesses invested in translation and interpretation services for this workforce, as well as time training them.
Creating illegal immigrants
Vilès Dorsainvil, Haitian Community Help and Support Center president, said taking away legal status from thousands of people — turning them into immigrants living here illegally — doesn’t make sense if the goal is to reduce illegal immigration. This will prevent people from being able to work, drive or do other things legally.
“Because human beings have that kind of survival instinct, so instead of staying here and die, they will do other things that may not be right just to survive,” Dorsainvil said. “So now, who is responsible for that?”
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said that Haitian immigrants have strengthened the local economy “by filling key roles in manufacturing and health care,” although their “rapid arrival has strained public services.” Rue said he believes the southern border should be protected and immigration policies reformed.
“Hasty changes and swift deportation will cause hardworking immigrants to be lost, negatively impacting our economy,“ Rue said. ”While those who commit crimes must be held accountable and face deportation, many other immigrants pay taxes and bolster our community. The policy of the previous federal administration lacked accountability, forcing us to manage an influx rather than promote healthy integration.”
Dorsainvil said “the worst thing” is that Haiti is still unsafe, and he hopes that the U.S.‘s “strong civil society” of checks and balances and grassroots organizations stops this.
But critics of TPS note the program was never meant to be a vehicle for long-term residency; it doesn’t even provide a long-term path to citizenship. It was designed to provide temporary refuge for people from countries impacted by war or natural disaster.
“For decades the TPS system has been exploited and abused,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement announcing the end of TPS for Haitians. “For example, Haiti has been designated for TPS since 2010. The data shows each extension of the country’s TPS designation allowed more Haitian nationals, even those who entered the U.S. illegally, to qualify for legal protected status.”
Jobs, businesses at risk
Downing said Springfield and Clark County need all the workers they can get with the largest population group being near or at retirement age.
According to the Greater Springfield Partnership, the median age in Clark County is 40.6 as of 2024. Of a population of 134,995 in Clark County, 27,272 are aged 65 or older.
Greater Springfield Partnership — the city’s chamber of commerce — has said in the past that the community attracted 7,000 new jobs to the area in recent years and Haitian immigrants helped fill that need.
“These workers pay taxes and re-invest in our local economy,” the organization notes in a statement on its website advocating working to assimilate the immigrant population into the workforce. Springfield city officials note Haitians have opened local businesses including grocery stores and restaurants.
Express Employment Professionals has six to 12 Haitians on its payroll. Downing is also involved in immigrant business and employment efforts as part of the Haitian Coalition. He said his cohort has been working on how to encourage businesses to perform “tandem hiring,” hiring two immigrant employees at a time where one has enough English skills to help the other person on the job.
Downing said he isn’t sure how the early TPS end will change that, but he will continue his work in immigrant employment.
“We don’t know what the employer temperature is going to be with Temporary Protected Status ending in August. Are they going have an appetite to do the hiring and training and investment?” Downing said. “And we don’t know what this administration is going to do. We don’t know what the state of Ohio is going to do. What options will there be for employers to continue to legally employ this immigrant population?”
‘There’s a gap'
According to a study conducted by the American Immigration Council, a mass deportation would reduce the U.S.‘s gross domestic product by an estimated 4.2% to 6.8%. Immigrants with and without status paid almost $16.80 of every $100 in taxes collected by federal, state and local governments.
Downing said there is a gap between open jobs and available workers.
“Regardless of the number on TPS or not, we’ve got — data says — this many open jobs, this many available workers,” he said. “There’s a gap.”
Education has been a key means to bridge that gap, creating more skilled workers in high school and local colleges, Express Employment co-owner Kristina Downing said, and marrying that with the Haitian and other immigrant population will create “the workforce that we need to grow.”
Rue encouraged the Trump administration to “reform federal immigration policies in a way that protects our borders, ensures fairness, and enriches our nation,” while giving immigrants who want to become “productive citizens” a clearer path toward staying rather than immediate deportation.
“These individuals were given hope and a sense of security through the Temporary Protected Status policy, which has been embraced by several administrations,” Rue said. “The United States must continue to be a beacon of hope and a torchbearer of democracy.”
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