(7-28-26) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Monday that the Trump administration would be making a “mistake” if it deports thousands of Haitian migrants who it has stripped of their temporary protected status (TPS).

Temporary Protected Status (lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent) is a humanitarian immigration program created by Congress in the Immigration Act of 1990 to provide temporary relief to foreign nationals who cannot safely return to their home countries. The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country for this status if it is experiencing conditions such as ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary, temporary circumstances that make departure or deportation untenable for its 

DeWine told CBS News’s Camilo Montoya-Galvez.

“It’s a mistake. It’s not good for the United States and it’s not good for the state of Ohio.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plan to start operations to arrest and deport Haitian migrants without legal status focusing on Ohio starting this week.

DeWine’s comments come as over 300,000 migrants from Haiti are set to lose their Temporary Protected Status.

DeWine added-

“Springfield has been making a real comeback. The Haitians who are living there and [are] employed there, they came there to work and they came there because there were jobs that were not being filled by other people.

These are people who have opened restaurants. They’ve opened other businesses. They’re rehabbed houses. They’ve created jobs, as well as filled jobs.

So to lose them and have them not be able to work anymore and possibly taken out of this country, it’s frankly a blow to Springfield and a blow to the state of Ohio.”