❓WHAT HAPPENED: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) is criticizing President Donald J. Trump’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, while defending his state government’s support for importing cheap immigrant labor.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Gov. DeWine, President Trump, Haitian migrants, and Springfield employers.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Sunday, February 22, 2026, during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Springfield is an industrial city, manufacturing city that was down. It has been coming back. And frankly, one of the reasons it’s coming back is because of the Haitians who are working there.” – Governor Mike DeWine
🎯IMPACT: The influx of Haitian labor has driven down wages, increased housing costs, and placed strain on welfare systems in Springfield, Ohio.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday to defend the importation of cheap immigrant labor and criticize President Donald J. Trump’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. DeWine argued that Haitians have played a key role in supposedly revitalizing Springfield, Ohio, by working manufacturing jobs that he claimed could not be filled otherwise.
“Springfield is an industrial city, manufacturing city that was down. It has been coming back. And frankly, one of the reasons it’s coming back is because of the Haitians who are working there,” DeWine said, adding, “These are people who, if you talk to the employers, they were filling jobs that were not being able to be filled in any other way.”
The Republican governor went on to criticize President Trump for ending TPS for Haitians last summer. “So, if one day that TPS is taken away, no employer can hire them anymore, and you’ll have all these people who are unemployed. So, I think the policy there is wrong,” DeWine stated.
🚨New: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine slammed President Trump’s policy on removing Temporary Protected Status for Haitians “is wrong” because it would impact the manufacturing economy in Springfield, Ohio.
pic.twitter.com/65FVzj17mI— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) February 22, 2026
However, census data paints a less optimistic picture of Springfield’s economic situation after the influx of Haitian immigrants. The town’s poverty rate stands at 23.06 percent, with a median household income of $47,143—both figures significantly worse than Ohio’s state averages. Housing costs have also risen sharply since 2020, with home values increasing by more than 50 percent and rents rising due to limited inventory.
Notably, the TPS designation has allowed up to 15,000 Haitians in Springfield to access welfare programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), adding to the tax burden for residents. Additionally, the Springfield school district has enrolled approximately 1,500 Haitian children, requiring the hiring of teachers fluent in Haitian Creole. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services noted that over 5,200 aid applications for Haitians were approved last year.
The National Pulse reported earlier this month that U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes, appointed by former President Joe Biden, issued a ruling temporarily halting the Trump administration’s effort to end the TPS designation for approximately 350,000 Haitian nationals. Judge Reyes, a Harvard-educated Uruguayan immigrant, admitted that the TPS statute limits judicial review of the substantive decisions on country designations, but argued she could intervene regardless to examine whether the administrative process followed proper procedures.
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