The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week to decide if the Trump administration can end the Temporary Protected Status program for Haitian and Syrian nationals.

A ruling is expected by late June or early July.

The hearing indicated the court seems likely to side with the actions of President Donald Trump to strip legal status from Haitians and Syrians.

About 30,000 Haitians with temporary status live in central Ohio and an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians call Springfield home, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship and other legal statuses.

Springfield became a flashpoint in the 2024 election when Trump and JD Vance amplified false rumors about Haitian immigrants there.

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, came to the United States from Haiti in 2020.

“The question before the court is not just a legal one — it is a moral one about who we are as a nation and how we treat people who have rallied in our communities,” Dorsainvil said during a press conference standing outside the U.S. Supreme Court. “We urge a decision that reflects both the law and our shared values, fairness, stability and compassion.

“Stripping protections from those communities would cause needless harm, separate families and disrupt the local economies across the country.”

Temporary Protected Status is a federal program established by Congress in 1990 that allows people from specific countries destabilized by conflict or natural disasters the chance to live and work in the United States for a set period of time.

Haiti is plagued with gang violence and instability, with many fleeing the small Caribbean nation to the United States.

Many of the refugees have no homes to go back to in Haiti and are fearful for their families’ safety if forced to return.

Syria was first granted TPS in 2012, and there are about 6,000 Syrians living with temporary status.

Syria is experiencing ongoing armed conflict, terrorist violence, kidnapping, hostage taking and crime.

The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti and Syria.

Haitians were initially granted temporary protected status after Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 killed 222,570 people.

The Biden administration extended Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in 2021 after the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse.

“This administration is not above the law and should not be able to ignore Congress and bypass the courts (to) conduct the largest de-documentation effort in American history,” Sharif Aly, president of International Refugee Assistance Program Project, said during the press conference. “The law is not optional.”

TPS for Haitians was set to expire Feb. 3, but U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end temporary protected status for about 330,000 Haitians living in the United States.

The administration quickly appealed the decision, and lower courts blocked its efforts to end Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status.

Springfield experienced a shrinking population for decades as manufacturing jobs disappeared, but Haitian immigrants have grown Clark County’s workforce by more than 10,000 workers. About 60,000 people live in Springfield, with Haitians making up about a quarter of the population.

Deporting Haitians in Springfield would eliminate roughly $300 million in annual spending from Clark County with an estimated economic loss projected to exceed $400 million.

Deema Abdo, co-founder of Immigrants Act Now, said people living with temporary status have lived in the shadow of uncertainty for too long.

“(Uncertainty) looks like parents lying awake at night knowing that they cannot protect their children from what comes next,” she said during the press conference. “It looks like going to work every day not knowing if today is going to be the day you’re told that you no longer belong.”

TPS does not give people a shortcut, Abdo said.

“It gave them a chance, a chance to live with dignity, a chance to work hard, a chance to contribute, to build something real,” she said.

“To take that away now, to send people back to danger and instability, that is not a policy solution. That is abandonment, that is tearing families apart, ripping people from the very communities they helped build.”

The Trump administration has revoked TPS status for 13 countries — Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

Original story can be found at https://ohiocapitaljournal.com