Why We Are "Silent No More"

The conversation around immigration in Springfield has been loud, political, and divisive. In 2024, our city was thrust into the national spotlight, described and discussed by those who do not live here.

Today, we are asking you to look past the national headlines and focus on the local truth right here in Clark County. As Mayor Rob Rue recently said, for those who know the truth about our community, it is time to "be silent no more."

The majority of the ~12,000 Haitian immigrants in Springfield are here legally under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – a legal status given to immigrants to live and work here due to extreme adverse circumstances in their home country. The Department of Homeland Security intends to terminate TPS for Haitian immigrants on February 3rd, 2026. With this termination our Haitian neighbors will go from legal and working to illegal, unemployable, and at risk of deportation.

Our Request is Simple: Stability. Our nation invited these legal residents here. They followed our rules, worked our jobs, and paid our taxes. Extending TPS ensures that they continue those contributions to our community; ending it completely destroys that opportunity. Please sign to keep Springfield working, safe, and stable.

We are petitioning to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. Here is the truth about what that means for us and them:

1. The Family Truth

• The Lie: They can just "go home."

• The Truth: Haiti is still too dangerous for the Haitians to return. There is no third-country to which they can safely or affordably self-deport. The only permanent legal option for immigrants here under TPS is to apply for asylum – a process that has proved long, uncertain, and unfruitful for the many who have tried. Most significantly, there are an estimated 1,300 children born in Springfield to Haitian parents since 2021. These children are U.S. Citizens; they cannot be deported. If these children, aged 5 or younger, do not have a passport, they will be forcibly separated from their families. If they do have a passport, they can accompany their families but face not only the extremely dangerous circumstances in Haiti, but also an uncertain legal status as U.S. Citizens in a foreign country. Either way, termination of TPS presents incalculable difficulties for these young, vulnerable U.S. Citizens.

• The Risk: Springfield currently has only ~17 foster families. Ending TPS threatens to turn hundreds of American children into wards of the state overnight, creating a social services catastrophe, and breaking up families.

2. The Economic Truth

• The Lie: Haitians are taking jobs from locals.

• The Truth: Local business and Chamber of Commerce representatives confirm that Haitian residents are filling jobs that were unfilled before their arrival and will likely remain unfilled if they leave. Local employers describe the Haitian workforce as "drug-free, hardworking, and reliable."

• The Risk: If TPS ends, we force a mass firing of thousands of workers. This creates an immediate labor shortage for our businesses and a collapse in local tax revenue.

3. The Public Health & Safety Truth

• The Lie: Haitians caused a crime wave and a rise in disease, including STDs.

• The Truth: Crime – Reports confirm that the vast majority of "Haitian-related" police reports are actually crimes committed against Haitians, not by them. They are largely peaceful and law-abiding. Health – Clark County Health Commissioner Chris Cook has refuted claims of rising disease, noting there is no statistically significant difference since the population increase, and actually a downward trend in STDs.

• The Risk: Ending TPS creates an inhumane trap. With no viable way to self-deport and third-country options proving to be empty promises, 10,000 - 15,000 people will have no legal way to provide for their own families. The logical effect on crime, health, education and countless other human factors will result—not because of the Haitians, but because of our own actions.

We are not asking you to solve national immigration policy. We are asking you to help prevent a local disaster. Please sign today and speak.