Good morning, it's Tuesday, July 28. Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Haitians expired yesterday, and ICE is preparing enforcement operations with Ohio at the top of its list.
Also in today's issue: Trump's tariff rally vs. the data, Buttigieg separated from twins over bogus tip.
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Legal Yesterday, Gone Today
Yesterday, more than 300,000 people woke up in a country they've called home for years and discovered their legal right to stay had vanished. Temporary Protected Status — a federal program that lets people from countries facing war or disaster live and work in the U.S. legally — expired Monday for Haitians nationwide. For many, that protection has been in place since a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in 2010.
Here's what that means if you live anywhere near Springfield, Ohio. The roughly 12,000 Haitians in that city contribute about $300 million a year in spending to Clark County — rent, groceries, gas, car payments, all the things that keep a local economy running. Their employers, mostly manufacturers who already couldn't find enough workers, just lost a huge share of their labor force overnight. Republican Governor Mike DeWine called ending TPS "a mistake." When a Republican governor breaks with a Republican president on immigration, the economics must be pretty clear.
Now look, this didn't appear out of thin air. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe that the decision to end TPS cannot be reviewed by federal courts. There is no legal appeal left. The usual check — where a judge can press pause on a government action — has been taken off the table. The administration has sole authority here, and it is using it.
And this is where things get troubling. Internal documents obtained by CBS News show that ICE — the federal deportation agency — has planned enforcement operations targeting Haitian communities, with Ohio as a primary focus. The Haitian Support Center in Springfield closed Monday. Local reports describe families staying indoors. DHS is offering a $2,600 stipend and a flight to Haiti for anyone who leaves voluntarily. But the State Department currently has a Level 4 travel advisory for Haiti — its highest danger warning. The government is offering plane tickets to a country it tells its own citizens not to visit.
Springfield became a national flashpoint during the 2024 campaign when Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance spread false claims that Haitians were eating residents' pets. Those claims were debunked. But they put a target on a community that had quietly revived a city in decline — filling jobs, repairing houses, lifting tax revenue. Now that community is being told to leave.
If enforcement goes forward at scale, Springfield could lose a quarter of its population and hundreds of millions in annual spending. Families who came here under a program the federal government created face deportation to one of the most dangerous countries in the hemisphere, or life underground without the ability to work or see a doctor. Some have already made foster care arrangements for their children. Neither outcome makes anyone safer.
What to watch: whether Congress moves on a fix before the midterms, and whether other Republican governors follow DeWine. Michigan's primary is eight days away. Immigration is on the ballot whether anyone puts it there or not.
In other news that matters
Trump claimed Michigan is "thriving" at a rally Monday at General Motors' Proving Ground in Milford, telling workers the auto industry is "back" under his tariff agenda. Bridge Michigan fact-checkers found his headline number — a 71% trade-deficit reduction — relied on cherry-picked monthly data, comparing a historic peak to a historic low. The most recent figures show the deficit actually up 14% over the same month last year. The same day, the Gordie Howe International Bridge opened between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — a $4.54 billion project financed entirely by Canada — while Trump's new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods, announced July 20, are set to take effect August 19. Average new-car sticker prices have climbed 10.4% in the past year, with even U.S.-assembled vehicles costing $1,600 to $2,000 more because of parts tariffs, according to Cox Automotive.
Police records obtained by the Washington Post show Michigan authorities separated former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg from his 4-year-old twins in June based on a tip that was never checked before action was taken. Investigators waited six days before trying to identify the accuser, later described by Indiana police as possibly "mentally unstable." An Indiana investigator found Facebook posts in which the woman urged people not to vote for Buttigieg weeks before she contacted authorities. Michigan's attorney general has opened a probe into how the case was handled; Indiana State Police confirmed a separate investigation into possible false reporting.
P.S. Should Congress extend TPS for Haitians? Hit Reply — one word is enough.
