DeWine criticizes Kristi Noem as Ohio waits for a potential crackdown on Haitians in Springfield
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine criticized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Krisit Noem last week for allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to act as they did in Minneapolis.
DeWine’s comments at Politico’s 2026 Governors Summit came as Ohioans and Haitian immigrants are waiting for the Supreme Court decision regarding the immigrants’ TPS status, which could result in them potentially being deported back to Haiti.
“Look, I think that what happened in Minnesota was a signal to a lot of people — they didn’t like what they saw,” DeWine said when he was asked about Noem, according to Politico.
DeWine previously said that he doesn’t know if ICE will crack down on Haitian immigrants in Springfield in the near future, adding that the state is preparing for this potential outcome.
DeWine also mobilized taxpayer-funded resources to keep children of Haitian immigrants inside the country, in case ICE eventually deport their parents or other legal guardians. Many of these children were born in Ohio, which makes them American citizens, DeWine said.
During the conference, DeWine said that even though state and local enforcement will work with federal immigration authorities, ICE will need to conduct itself professionally.
“Frankly, we expect ICE, if they come in, to follow good police protocols. If they do that, we’re going to be able to work our way through it,” he said.
Many left-wing activists, including Christian Collins, a public policy researcher in Washington, D.C., who recently wrote an op-ed for The Columbus Dispatch, criticized DeWine, saying the position does not provide enough pushback against the current administration.
“All DeWine has offered is a piecemeal statement about preserving TPS status for Springfield’s Haitian community and the expectation that ICE officers follow the practices of the local police and sheriff’s department,” Collins wrote. “DeWine is smart enough to know that won’t stop Trump’s personal Stasi, who killed at least 32 people last year, effectively kidnapped thousands more, and are brazenly violating civil rights daily.”
Even though DeWine previously ideologically opposed President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance by criticizing their claims that Haitian immigrants are eating the pets of Americans in Ohio and suggesting that the state’s economy would be negatively affected if Haitian immigrants were deported, he praised Trump for securing the southern border.
“He has done something that has not been done before, and that is he has basically sealed the southern border,” he said. “And you can talk to Democrats, talk to Republicans. I think everybody is happy about that.”
DeWine also avoided endorsing Vance for president in the upcoming 2028 election, saying that Vance is a “favorite son of ours, and we’ll see how this whole thing plays out.”
DeWine also defended keeping the name of Les Wexner, the billionaire businessman and former client of Jeffrey Epstein, on The Ohio State University buildings, saying that there is no evidence of Wexner committing an Epstein-related crime.
“Barring some new information of something that he has done illegally, I don’t see that as a problem,” he said.
