DeWine urges Trump administration to reconsider ending Haitian TPS protections

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is again urging the Trump administration to reconsider ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants, arguing the policy could hurt Ohio’s workforce and remove thousands of workers from critical industries.

Speaking Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, DeWine said ending TPS protections for Haitians already living and working in the United States is “not in our own self-interest.”

“What I would hope that the Trump administration would do is reconsider this,” DeWine told host Jake Tapper. “Look at how it’s going to impact states like Ohio.”

The comments come days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration can move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians nationwide. The 6-3 decision overturned lower-court rulings that had delayed the policy change.

DeWine has repeatedly criticized the policy even as he has praised the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the southern border.

“I applaud the administration. I seriously do. They have done a tremendous job on the southern border,” DeWine said. “I think, though, that we now need to look at what’s in the best interest of the United States besides closing that southern border.”

Following the Supreme Court ruling, DeWine warned that more than 10,000 Haitians living in Ohio, many in the Springfield area, could now face deportation.

“The situation in Haiti could hardly be much worse,” DeWine said in a statement issued after the ruling. “The violent gangs run most of the country. The government barely functions. And, the economy is in shambles.”

During the CNN interview, DeWine said Haitian immigrants help fill jobs in manufacturing, food production and health care across Ohio.

“It’s Haitians who many times are taking care of your mom or your dad who has Alzheimer’s, taking care of family members who might be in a nursing home,” DeWine said. “And to say we’re going to pull all those out, it’s just not in our own self-interest.”

Not everyone in DeWine’s party agrees.

State Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., welcomed the end of TPS protections, telling the Dayton Daily News that the designation was always intended to be temporary.

“Temporary is temporary,” Plummer said. “There’s a path to citizenship. Get to work on it.”

State Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, also supported ending the designation, saying Ohio’s assistance was always intended to be temporary.

“I encourage everyone to treat them with respect as they return to their country of origin,” Koehler said in a statement.

The Trump administration has defended the policy, saying TPS was created as a temporary humanitarian program rather than a permanent immigration status.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said migrants covered by TPS can pursue permanent legal status or receive assistance returning to their home countries.

DeWine said he accepts the Supreme Court’s legal ruling but believes policymakers should reconsider the broader public-policy consequences.

“I think that it’s important that we separate the legal decision that was made by the Supreme Court with the issue of public policy,” DeWine said. “We’re now to the point where we have to look again at the public policy.”