We now know a bit more about the electronic ankle monitors that ICE has placed on several Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.
CTN spoke with five Springfield residents who are wearing the devices. All five are Haitian nationals who entered the United States across the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration. Several of them had used organizations that assist migrants in crossing the border legally before the CBP One program was created. Of the five people CTN reached who now wear ankle monitors, every one had entered through the southern border.
In an interview with CTN, Jean Ronald Mésilus, one of those fitted with a monitor, said he had received an invitation to appear at an ICE office in Ohio. When he arrived, agents offered him $2,600 to deport himself. He refused the offer. Immigration officers questioned him at length about his life in the United States — whether he had a wife, children, and so on. After the interview, they placed the ankle monitor on him and gave him instructions on charging it. He is not permitted to travel to other states without ICE’s authorization.
Mésilus had an earlier immigration case that a judge set aside — dismissed — because he held TPS. He has since filed another asylum claim. He now has an appointment before an immigration judge for a further interview.
According to information CTN obtained, roughly 15 people had ICE appointments in Ohio last week. All of them were fitted with monitors. Nearly all had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. All five of the people we spoke with had already had at least one hearing or interview with an immigration judge. Several of their cases had been closed because they held Temporary Protected Status, CTN’s newsroom learned.
The practice of placing monitors on immigrants is not new. It was introduced under President Trump’s first administration. It continued for a short time under President Biden, but was quickly phased out in 2021, and mostly people who had crossed the border wore the devices. The Trump administration has now brought it back. According to information reaching CTN, the administration would not rule out using the practice on other groups of immigrants who are summoned to appear at ICE.
With TPS now expired, the government is expected to use every available means to begin deportation proceedings against Haitian immigrants who held Temporary Protected Status, as several American media outlets have reported.
How the monitoring program works
The devices are part of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program, specifically the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, which is operated for ICE by BI Incorporated, a subsidiary of the GEO Group. The current version relies on GPS ankle monitors that track a person’s location and movement, a smartphone app called SmartLINK that uses facial recognition for check-ins, telephonic reporting, and scheduled in-person or home visits. Supervision is assigned case by case through a person’s local ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office.
The expansion Springfield residents are now experiencing is traceable to a specific directive. In a June 9, 2025, memo, the Trump administration instructed ICE officers that if a person is not being arrested at the time they report, officers should escalate their supervision to GPS ankle monitors “whenever possible” and increase reporting requirements. A legal challenge, O. v. Helland, alleges the policy departs from decades of ICE practice requiring an individualized assessment before imposing conditions of release, and that the number of people wearing GPS ankle monitors has nearly tripled since the memo. The government’s own data showed roughly 29,000 people on ankle monitors nationwide as of September 2025.
Springfield sits at the center of this because of its size and its recent history.
Around 30,000 Haitians live in central Ohio, and the Haitian population in Springfield itself is estimated at 12,000 to 15,000, roughly a quarter of the city. During the 2024 presidential campaign, the community was thrust into the national spotlight when Mr. Trump amplified a false claim that Haitians there were eating residents’ pets, an accusation local officials repeatedly rejected.
CTN’s reporting is consistent with what Springfield’s own leaders are publicly describing. Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church, said Haitians in the city have received letters asking them to report to ICE in Cincinnati, where, he was told, they are asked to wear an ankle monitor and report back in a month. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who has for months criticized the termination of TPS, said he has not been informed of any plans for ICE to conduct raids in Springfield — though he acknowledged that could change.
The ankle monitors are part of a broader enforcement posture that took hold after the protection ended.
Temporary Protected Status for Haiti was terminated effective July 27, 2026, after the Supreme Court’s June 25 decision in Mullin v. Doe cleared the way for the administration to proceed. The $2,600 offer Mésilus described corresponds to the self-deportation payment the Department of Homeland Security has publicly promoted, telling those losing status they can receive a check and a flight home if they leave on their own.
Legislation that would restore the designation — H.R. 1689, which would grant Haiti TPS through 2029 — passed the House in April but stalled in the Senate on July 22, when a single Republican objection blocked an attempt to pass it by unanimous consent. For now, the people CTN spoke with in Springfield wait with devices on their ankles, forbidden to leave the state without permission, their cases moving through a system whose outcome no one can yet predict.
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Editorial Disclaimer: This article was originally written in English. Other language versions are produced using AI translation software, and errors are possible — the English version is authoritative. CTN also uses AI to convert text into audio.
