Haitian migrants have turned to religion amid the imminent threat of deportation under the presidency of Donald Trump – who accused them of eating their neighbours’ pets on the campaign trail.
The First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Ohio was jam-packed with parishioners on the first Sunday service since President Trump’s inauguration as immigration raids take place across the country.
‘I asked God to protect my people,’ Reverend Reginald Silencieux said after the service.
‘I prayed especially for the Haitian community, and I prayed for U.S.A. too, because Trump is our president. As a church, we have an obligation to pray for him because he’s our political leader right now.’
The town was forced into the national spotlight during the presidential campaign when Trump accused Haitians in Springfield of eating their neighbour’s cats and dogs.
Now, migrants in the community are worried that they will be targeted and sent packing, as Trump authorizes ICE raids across the country.
Many had come to receive a blessing and hear advice on dealing with federal agents in case of raids arising from President Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Fearful and increasingly uneasy, several congregation members stayed at home.
Community leaders say many of Springfield’s estimated 15,000 Haitians are overwhelmed by fears Trump will end or let expire the Temporary Protected Status program that permits them to stay in the U.S. legally.
‘The community is panicking.’ Viles Dorsainvil, leader of Springfield’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center, told AP.
‘They see the arrests on TV in other parts of the country and they don’t know what’s going to happen.
‘The majority of immigrants in the U.S.A. are not criminals, and they’re hard-working people.’
Jacob Payne, a leader in the Haitian community, has been helping residents with their TPS applications, employment authorisation cards, and immigration paperwork.
‘Before, we had a different type of fear – it was a fear of retaliation, whether it was the far right, the Proud Boys,’ Payne said.
‘Now, there’s a fear of deportation. That keeps a lot of people from going out and has caused a lot of people to have left,’ he said.
But anti-immigrant sentiment has been on the rise in Springfield after untrue rumours circulated that cats and dogs were being stolen – and eaten – by Haitian migrant communities.
The rumours circulated like wildfire following a social media post in September 2024 that a local cat had been mutilated and exacerbated fears in the predominantly white, blue-collar metropolis of about 59,000.
During his debate with Kamala Harris, Trump reiterated the rumour and added that dogs were also being eaten. Bomb threats were made against political leaders’ residences, government facilities, and schools in the weeks that followed.
Living in Florida and Little Haiti, which is one of the most unsafe metropolises in the USA. It doesn’t get better and the crimes just increase due to the culture.
The key word here is ‘temporary.’ They have temporary protective status, not permanent protective status. They were never supposed to stay permanently!
These Haitians were flown in by the Biden administration and given TPA’s – those are temporary. If they are deported, it’s because the TPA was over, but they obviously thought Kamala Harris would win, thus securing their stay.
If they’re in the US illegally, then they must go. If they truly want to be in the US they should get their papers and then travel there legally – it’s remarkably straightforward.
America now has a new President, and delivering on his pledges is what Americans like to see – load the cargo containers, and get the barges ready because there are no free rides in the US.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 