Congressman Greg Landsman represents Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, which covers Cincinnati and the Blue Ash ICE field office where Haitian families from across the region are now being told to report. He joined me on Substack Live to talk about the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and the three-year extension the House passed in April. Most of the public case for extending TPS is economic, and it is a good case. But Landsman—a graduate of Harvard Divinity School—argued that it is more fundamentally a question of human dignity.
About a thousand Haitians in his district have no status now, he said, and ten to fifteen thousand live an hour away in Springfield. Many of them are in Ohio because congregations in his region spent fifteen or twenty years building relationships with people in Haiti through service trips and many then sponsored the people who fled. “That’s who brought most of these folks here,” he said, adding that this is not merely an historical footnote, but a practical problem for the administration. “In some ways they’re going to have to go through our churches,” he said, referring to ICE’s looming Haitian deportation push.
At Blue Ash every Sunday, hundreds of people report to ICE to be fitted with ankle monitors. While some protest in the street, clergy have gained permission to pray in the doorway of the ICE facility. Landsman described families tracking rumors by the hour about roving patrols and deportation flights, asking where else they could go, because they cannot go back to Haiti.
He also said he has not met any genuine opposition to allowing Haitians to stay in the country. “I’ve not met somebody who’s like, when do they leave? They’re ruining my lives. Nobody thinks that,” the congressman told me. He pointed to Gov. Mike DeWine, who told him that deporting these families means “sending them back to hell,” and to Springfield’s Republican mayor, who has described it to him also as a matter of dignity for their neighbors.
The resistance, as Landsman sees it, is “entirely driven by Stephen Miller.” Republicans have told him privately that the extension needed to happen and then declined to put their names on it, because signing means picking a fight with President Trump.
You can listen to the entire conversation above, which includes more information about how Congressman Landsman’s office is responding to concerns from the community and why clergy and people of faith can play an important role on this issue. I’ve include more information below about what you can do to take action.
My thanks to Congressman Landsman for meeting with me and to his staff for their assistance in coordinating. If you are an elected representative and you want to talk with me live about how immigration is impacting your constituents and what you’re doing to create change, reach out to discuss the possibility of joining me live.
What can do this week?
H.R. 1689 passed the House on April 16 by 224 to 204, with ten Republicans voting yes, and it would designate Haiti for TPS through April 2029. It has been on the Senate calendar since April, and Sen. Ed Markey is the point of contact on the Senate version. Landsman’s advice was to email your senators first, because email is easier to organize and it registers in a member’s office the same way a call does, and then to call. Contact forms and phone numbers for both of your senators are at senate.gov, and the Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121.