Haitian migrants changed this US town - Trump's deportation drive is reshaping it again
BBCIn this closely fought midterm election campaign, the small town of Springfield, Ohio, has become a symbol of modern America. But it is a symbol that changes dramatically depending on who is describing it.
To President Donald Trump, Springfield crystallises America's problems due to years of unchecked immigration. He once echoed a false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets here. Today, he says his mass deportation drive means its people are "getting their town back".
But to others, Springfield represents a well-known cycle in the story of modern America. The decline of traditional industry, followed by a spike in immigration fuelled by cheap housing and low-paid labour. It is a familiar tale across the country.
This story contains some distressing details
Pierre Damas Bel, 20, arrived in Springfield to join his father and stepmother in 2024.
He fled his native Haiti, which was gripped by political instability and gang warfare. He entered the US with the government's permission under a now-defunct Biden-era programme for migrants waiting in Mexico.
Bel, according to a family friend, then received a humanitarian protection called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which gives vetted individuals the right to live and work in the United States.
TPS usually lasts 18 months but is routinely rolled over, often for years, if the danger remains in the affected country.
Bel aspired to build a life in America, the friend said. He was an honours student, talented athlete and cadet in a high school programme training students to become officers in the US Armed Forces.
But in June, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration's decision to end TPS for some 350,000 Haitians in the US.
Bel was told to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office where he was fitted with an ankle monitor which is used to track migrants facing deportation.
He wrote on Instagram that he felt "shame and humiliation" at having to wear the tag. And on 31 August, he parked his car on the side of a highway near Springfield, walked into oncoming traffic and was killed.
His family blamed his death on his feelings at having to wear the ankle monitor.
The Department for Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to questions from the BBC about Bel's case. ICE has previously rejected "any attempt to blame ICE for the death".
"Remaining in the country illegally, while fighting removal, is a choice. Leaving with a free flight home and $2,600 is also a choice," a spokesperson told US media earlier this year when asked about the case.
In the weeks before his death, Bel attended a Springfield support centre for Haitians facing deportation.
Its co-founder, Viles Dorsainvil, told the BBC that Bel had been in the process of filing a motion asking ICE to remove the tag.
"He went twice to the ICE facilities… begging them to remove the ankle monitor," he said. "He did everything right to be here until they put the tag on him."
In total, more than a million immigrants from 13 countries have had TPS terminated by the Trump administration. The changes meant many went from being legal to unauthorised migrants overnight.
In 2024, Trump made securing the border and the mass deportation of undocumented migrants core pledges in his election campaign. Polls suggest the border policy continues to have strong support among Republicans, but the nature of his immigration enforcement campaign has seen a drop in backing this year.
Ohio has become a swing state in the coming midterm Congressional elections, and one of two Republican-held Senate seats is up for grabs. Trump has visited the state twice already in an attempt to rally turnout and counter a slide in his approval ratings.
At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, earlier this month, Trump returned to the topic of Springfield.
"You have a little town, beautiful little town in Ohio where they dropped about 35,000 Haitians. Well, they're being taken out and they're almost going to be gone and we're giving their town back," he said to cheers.
The Trump administration first announced in June 2025 that it would be removing the TPS for Haitians, and the ensuing legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in its favour in the summer.
"The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty," James Percival, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said after the court's ruling. "This is a win for the rule of law and common sense."
In a social media post in August, the Department of Homeland Security posted a video of Haitians in chains wearing white uniforms being led onto a deportation flight. The video, accompanied by jaunty music, told Haitians whose TPS had expired to "LEAVE IMMEDIATELY".
The Trump administration has said it is conducting law enforcement operations in the town to keep Americans safe. It has also argued that Haiti is safe enough to return to.
The country is subject to the US State Department's highest Level 4 "Do Not Travel" danger warning.
The signs of decades of economic decline are still visible in Springfield, through shuttered factories and boarded up homes.
This part of the American Midwest was hit badly by last century's de-industrialisation, when those laid off from its once prolific factories sought work on the coasts or migrated to warmer, southern states.
Within the last five years, a Haitian population estimated to be around 20,000 strong arrived in the town. Many fled the devastating earthquake in 2010. Others left Haiti in 2021 during the violence and unrest that followed President Jovenel Moise's assassination.
It meant Springfield's population increased rapidly. With their legal status under TPS, many Haitians took on low-paid jobs in factories and distribution warehouses.
Rick Johnson, who served in the Marines, has a porch adorned with flags. The Stars and Stripes flutter close to a banner for the US Navy and another for the Marine Corps.
Johnson's wife served in the Navy while he was in the Marines at Camp Pendleton in California. Outside of his service, he has lived in Springfield his whole life. He made it clear he is a strong supporter of ICE's deportation drive.
"You get where we're coming from," he said. "We love America, we love Americans - any kind of Americans, but you kind of have to be American."
Johnson moved into this neighbourhood a decade ago, but he said the loss of industry has left much of it empty. "They've torn down every house around me, I don't really have any neighbours," he said. "The only neighbours I have are Haitians right here and they don't really bother me."
They moved in around four years ago, Johnson added, "but there's a lot of them". He referenced "the driving problems".
This is a view shared by other residents in Springfield - a perception that traffic accidents increased after the Haitian community arrived.
In 2023, an 11-year-old boy, Aiden Clark, was killed when his school bus overturned in a crash with a minivan. The van driver, Herman Joseph, originally from Haiti, did not have a valid US driver's licence and was jailed.
Aiden's father, Nathan Clark, later spoke at a Springfield City Commission meeting where he denounced politicians for using his son's death as a "political tool" to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment, saying his son was accidentally killed.
Johnson's concern is about the numbers and the speed of change. "Really it's the amount of them," he told the BBC. "If you come here you [should] come here legally. The Temporary Protected Status is done… it's time to go."
At a nearby grocery store run by Paschur Castelly, who left Haiti 20 years ago, most of the shelves are empty, except for those stocking religious candles and framed pictures of Catholic saints popular with this devout community.
"I can't purchase new merchandise because I don't have people coming in," he said.
"So, our communities, we have doctors, we have engineers… we came here to get a better life, to help our family in Haiti, you know? Our country doesn't offer us security."
After 20 minutes in the store, the first customer arrived. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had been a warehouse worker for three years.
But like others who have lost TPS, it is likely to mean he has also lost the right to work.
As he chatted with Castelly, he pulled up his right trouser leg and revealed a large ankle monitor.
ICE has said these are part of its Alternatives to Detention programme. "I was given a choice, wear the ankle monitor and report in every two weeks, or sign my deportation order," he said.
As we left the store, Castelly closed the door which he now keeps locked. When a neighbour spotted us and feared an ICE raid, she shouted over to ask if Castelly was okay.
It was a sign of just how much this town remains a symbol - of two versions of America - years after Trump thrust it into the national spotlight, and weeks before voters head to the polls to shape the remainder of his presidency.
With additional reporting by Gringo Wotshela
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