Haitian families fleeing Springfield
By 
You don’t need to be a cross-maker to be able to tell when they’re about to burn:
Koveleski, leaders in Springfield’s Haitian community, and others have relayed reports of Haitians fleeing the city of 60,000 people in recent days for fear of being rounded up and deported after Donald Trump’s victory in the 5 November presidential election.
“The owner of one store is wondering if he should move back to New York or to Chicago – he says his business is way down,” Koveleski remarked.
Trump has repeatedly said he would end immigrants’ temporary protected status (TPS) – the provision through which many Haitians are legally allowed to live and work in the US – and deport Haitians from Springfield once in office.
For many, the threats are real.
A sheriff in Sidney, a town 40 miles (64km) north-west of Springfield that is home to several dozen Haitian immigrants, allegedly told local police in September to “get a hold of these people and arrest them”.
“Bring them – I’ll figure out if they’re legal,” he said, referencing Haitian immigrants in the area.
As Jacob Payen, a co-founder of the Haitian Community Alliance who runs a business that includes helping Haitians in Springfield to file tax returns, said: “People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation.
“Several of my customers have left. One guy with his family went to New Jersey; others have gone to Boston. I know three families that have gone to Canada.”
Some are thought to have moved to nearby cities such as Dayton, where they believe they would be less visible to law enforcement. Others who had temporary asylum in Brazil are pondering going back to the South American country, community leaders say.
Springfield’s Haitian community has been in the spotlight since Trump falsely accused immigrants here of eating pets during a presidential debate in September. Since then, the city has seen false bomb threats and marches by neo-Nazi groups after having experienced a revival in recent years in large part because of Haitians who took jobs in local produce packaging and machining factories that many previously there found undesirable.
In addition to being bad for the people being forced to leave under threat of Stephen Miller’s brownshirts arriving, this will be bad for the local economy. But needless to say Trump and Vance don’t give a shit about improving things in struggling riust belt cities — for these grifters their decline is good for business.