Trump faces GOP backlash as DeWine calls Haiti deportation plan 'a mistake'

WASHINGTON, DC: The GOP pushback over Trump’s decision to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of Syrian and Haitian communities has persistently grown, with several conservative leaders claiming that sending Haitian back might negatively impact American cities.

Ohio Gov Mike DeWine (R) said the Trump administration would be making a “mistake” if it were to deport thousands of Haitian migrants whom it has stripped of their TPS.

GOP leaders think deporting Haitians would be mistake

Governor Mike DeWine thinks that deporting Haitians would neither be good for Ohio nor America.

“It’s a mistake. It’s not good for the United States and it’s not good for the state of Ohio,” DeWine told CBS News’s Camilo Montoya-Galvez.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ramped up efforts to arrest and deport Haitian migrants without legal status, the outlet reported Monday, July 27. Ohio houses a large section of Haiti Diaspora in America. DeWine said that ICE hasn't notified the administration about their operation to arrest and deport Haitians.

The Supreme Court, last month, upheld the former Home Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to revoke the protected status of Haitians and Syrian migrants.

As per a report by immigration advocacy group Fwd.us, released in January, prior to the expiration of TPS on Monday, there were roughly 330,000 Haitians in the U.S. with that status, with 14,000 living in Ohio.

DeWine has long defended Haitian migrants, saying they contribute to his state’s economy. He made the same argument to CBS News, saying Haitians “have helped” cities such as Springfield.

DeWine thinks Springfield made comeback because of Haitians

“Springfield has been making a real comeback,” DeWine said. “The Haitians who are living there and [are] employed there, they came there to work and they came there because there were jobs that were not being filled by other people.”

The governor later added, “These are people who have opened restaurants. They’ve opened other businesses. They’re rehabbed houses. They’ve created jobs, as well as filled jobs.

“So to lose them and have them not be able to work anymore and possibly taken out of this country, it’s frankly a blow to Springfield and a blow to the state of Ohio.”

Deporting Haitians is like sending them to Hell

DeWine said the administration would be sending Haitians “back to hell” by deporting them to their home country.

“Very few of these Haitians will voluntarily go back to Haiti,” the GOP governor added. “If they have to leave, they’ll go someplace else. They want to work. They want to support their family. They don’t want to go back to Haiti.”

The Obama administration first extended TPS to Haitians in the wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake on the Caribbean island.