All posts tagged: Springfield

TikTokers came to Springfield looking for ICE. Then the child trafficking rumors began.

TikTokers came to Springfield looking for ICE. Then the child trafficking rumors began.

Published by Sam Flores

This story was originally reported by Amanda Becker of The 19th. Meet Amanda and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. The residents of Springfield, Ohio, had prepared for the arrival of immigration agents on February 3, the expiration date set by the Trump administration for Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, who account for nearly a quarter of the city’s population. A federal judge intervened at the last minute, pushing the deadline indefinitely. The agents never arrived. Still, the city has found itself on edge this month and the threat is as unsettling as it is familiar: online misinformation, this time accusing the very people trying to protect their immigrant neighbors from deportation of trafficking their children instead. Ahead of the 2024 elections, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, then Republican running mates, amplified a rumor initially shared in a local Facebook group that Haitian immigrants were eating area pets. Last Wednesday, TikTok creators, finding none of the mayhem they expected to see in Springfield, started suggesting that faith-based groups …

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

Published by Sam Flores

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — “We have orders of deportation,” said a volunteer in a raised voice, posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and pounding on the sanctuary door. “What you’re doing is harboring.” Inside the sanctuary, hundreds of trainees blocked the large wooden double doors. One called out, “We’re exercising our First Amendment right to freedom of worship.”   The handful of faux ICE agents moved to a different entryway. As they pried open the side door to the sanctuary, some trainees held up phones to record the encounter while others blew whistles. The scenario was part of a roleplay exercise at a rapid response training in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday (Jan. 24). Despite the winter storm in the forecast, nearly 200 people from in and around Springfield gathered at Central Christian Church for the event organized by G92, a new Springfield-based coalition of pro-immigrant churches and advocates named after the 92 times the Hebrew word “ger,” which means stranger or sojourner, appears in the Hebrew Bible. “For many people, this isn’t just …