Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said this week that the city has received no notice from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of any planned operation in Springfield, even as Temporary Protected Status ended Monday for Haitian and Syrian nationals and residents braced for a possible increase in arrests.
Rue told WDTN that the city had not heard from ICE about any planned enforcement action, and separately told the Springfield News-Sun that Springfield had received nothing beyond national media reports describing “a daily demanded increase in arrests.” The mayor drew a clear line between what the city controls and what it does not: immigration policy is the federal government’s responsibility, he said, while the city’s job is to provide essential services, maintain public safety, and serve everyone in the community fairly under the law.
“As an elected official, my commitment is to the citizens of Springfield,” Rue told WDTN. “I believe it’s important to care about people regardless of their nationality and offer support while following the law.”
The mayor’s assurance lands in a community that has spent the week absorbing the human weight of the deadline. WDTN spoke with Carl Ruby, founder of the local advocacy group G92, who described the toll plainly: “This has been a really tough, tough week for lots of people.” Ruby added that his group supports border security “so long as it is done in a humane manner.”
Rue’s message this week emphasized calm and lawfulness. “I encourage everyone to treat one another with dignity and respect,” he told WDTN. “We support every person’s right to peacefully express their views, and we ask that everyone does so lawfully.”
Reading a statement at a Springfield City Commission meeting on Tuesday, the mayor said the city would not set policy based on speculation but understood the anxiety in the community, and that Springfield had been in contact with local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. He said DHS had not given the city a date or any information confirming who might be targeted, or when or how any ICE operation might unfold. He urged residents to rely only on vetted information.
Not every official channel was open this week. When ABC 6 (WSYX) sought interviews with Rue and other city leaders about immigration enforcement, city officials responded that they were not conducting media interviews at that time.
The surge question
While the city says it has no confirmation of an operation, the possibility has been widely reported.
CBS News, citing two unnamed agency sources and federal documents, has reported that plans may exist for a surge focused on arresting Haitians and moving them quickly onto deportation flights to Haiti. The Department of Homeland Security told ABC 6 that ICE agents conduct enforcement operations every day but declined to provide details about any activity in Springfield or elsewhere in Ohio.
At the state level, the picture is similar. A spokesman for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, press secretary Dan Tierney, said the governor’s office had not been made aware of any additional ICE activity beyond what is typical. Tierney cautioned against reading enforcement as seasonal, saying ICE conducts normal operations constantly and that the notion that the agency only arrives at certain times does not reflect how it works in any state. DeWine has said that DHS told his office in February the state would receive at least 24 hours’ notice before any surge into Clark County, though the governor has also acknowledged ICE could arrive without notifying city or state leaders.
Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000 with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Haitian residents, remains split over the end of TPS. Residents interviewed at this week’s commission meeting ranged from acceptance to distress. “I don’t have a problem with them being here,” one Springfield resident, Tina Mueller, told News Center 7.
As the deadline passed, DHS has been promoting a voluntary departure program that offers eligible participants a free flight to Haiti and a $2,600 stipend. Advocates in Springfield have pushed back on the premise that return is safe. Marjory Wentworth, a leader of Springfield G92, told ABC 6 that conditions have not improved: “Nothing has changed in Haiti. If anything, the situation is worse. It’s dangerous.”
That assessment aligns with the U.S. government’s own travel guidance. The State Department maintains a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti — its most severe warning — citing kidnapping, armed violence, and civil unrest, even as DHS has determined the country no longer warrants TPS.
How Springfield got here
Springfield’s Haitian community became a national flashpoint during the 2024 presidential campaign, when false claims that Haitian residents were harming and eating pets — repeated by the candidates at the top of the Republican ticket — brought threats, national media, and lasting scrutiny to the city. Local officials, including the city manager, said at the time that there was no credible evidence to support the claims.
Haiti has been designated for TPS since the 2010 earthquake. The Supreme Court cleared the way for the designation’s termination on June 25, and after a series of court orders set the effective date, protections lapsed on Monday, July 27. Haitians who hold another status — a green card, asylum, or a pending application — are not affected in the same way; those without any other legal footing are now at risk of detention and removal proceedings.
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This article is based in part on reporting by WDTN (Megan Southall and Kiersten Riedford), which conducted the interview with Mayor Rob Rue and Carl Ruby.
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.
