Episcopal leaders call for renewed protections for Haitians facing deportation under Trump

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal leaders are offering support for Haitian immigrants in their communities while calling on Congress to help protect them from deportation after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end federal protections.

In Springfield, Ohio, which became a flashpoint during the 2024 presidential campaign over the city’s growing Haitian migrant community, some Haitian families had begun attending worship services at Christ Episcopal Church. The Rev. Michelle Boomgaard told Episcopal News Service that attendance noticeably declined after the Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling.

Some Haitians already had legal residency through other federal programs. Others have begun applying for asylum or green cards, which should again provide them with at least temporary protection from deportation, Boomgaard said, as returning to their home country isn’t a safe option. “At the end of the day, the situation in Haiti has not improved.”

More than 300,000 Haitians had been allowed to live and work in the United States for years under a program known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, that has long been supported by The Episcopal Church. It allows the Department of Homeland Security to declare certain foreign nationals protected from deportation if they would face hazards in their home countries from conditions such as natural disasters, civil unrest or other violence.

Those protections were thrown into limbo when the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump’s history of racist and discriminatory statements toward Haitians and other immigrants did not negate the presidential authority to end TPS protections for those immigrants. The ruling also directly affects a small group of Syrians, and it could make it easier for the Trump administration to roll back TPS for immigrants from 10 other countries.

The Episcopal Church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations released a statement on the day of the ruling, lamenting that “families who have built their lives, raised children, worshiped, worked and contributed to their communities in the United States may now face the loss of work authorization and protection from deportation.”

On July 16, the Office of Government Relations’ Episcopal Public Policy Network followed up with an action alert calling on Episcopalians to urge their representatives in Congress to enact legislative protections for Haitian families. It warned that Haiti “continues to face a profound humanitarian and security crisis” with “widespread violence, kidnapping, political instability, and limited access to basic services.”

“Conditions remain so dire that many advocates, faith leaders, and humanitarian organizations have warned that there is no realistic opportunity for a safe and orderly return for Haitian nationals at this time,” the action alert said.

On July 2, New York Bishop Matthew Heyd joined a grew of faith leaders in speaking in support of TPS a vigil outside a federal building in Manhattan. In addition, a group of about 20 Episcopal bishops launched a letter-writing campaign this month calling on Senate leaders and the Department of Homeland Security to renew TPS for Haitians.

“They are our friends, they are our neighbors, they are our congregants, they are our clergy,” Massachusetts Bishop Julia Whitworth said July 20 in a Facebook video about the bishops’ effort. “This is personal, and it’s urgent.”

General Convention has long supported immigration policies that treat migrants with dignity. In 2015, it approved a resolution pledging to support Temporary Protected Status “for all immigrants fleeing for refuge from violence, environmental disaster, economic devastation, or cultural abuse or other forms of abuse.”

The Diocese of Haiti is part of The Episcopal Church’s Province II, and Haitian immigrant communities in some American cities have grown large enough to support sizable Episcopal congregations, like St. Paul’s et Les Martyrs d’Haiti in Miami, Florida,  and the Haitian Congregation of the Good Samaritan in New York City. In Elizabeth, New Jersey, Haitians helped revive the dwindling congregation of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, according to a Religion News Service report, though fear of federal immigration authorities this year has kept many families away.

When Trump first took office in 2017, his administration tried to end protections for many of those with TPS, saying the status never was intended to offer immigrants permanent residency.

Then during the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump specifically targeted the growing Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, using dehumanizing and false rhetoric about Springfield residents eating pets. After returning to office in January 2025, Trump has prioritized sharp reductions of both legal and illegal immigration and now is following through on efforts to end TPS for Haitians and other immigrant groups.

An estimated 15,000 Haitian migrants had moved to Springfield since 2020, seeking jobs that local leaders were desperate to fill in the city’s ongoing effort to reverse decades of economic decline. In a small city with a population of less than 60,000, that sudden influx of new residents strained resources and services, though a network of Springfield organizations, including Christ Episcopal Church, coordinated efforts to better welcome these newest neighbors and ease their transition into the local community.

Since the Trump campaign’s attacks on those Haitian migrants, “folks in Springfield definitely feel like they have a target on their backs,” the Rev. Michelle Boomgaard, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, told Episcopal News Service in an interview this month. Now, the church and other community groups are scrambling to assist those who fear deportations after losing TPS.

“These are human beings and neighbors and friends and people we wave and say ‘hi’ to,” she said.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.