Jubilant praise echoes across the Springfield City Plaza welcoming Wednesday morning’s first sunlight and dedicated walkers.
Over the next four days, they’re marching 40 miles to Columbus in support of Haitian immigrants across the Buckeye state who are living in uncertainty since the end of Temporary Protected Status. 28-year-old Wislande Hensley is a member of the Springfield Haitian chapter of Undivided. She says they want state politicians to understand a simple reality.
"We are resilient, even if people that are in power try to push us to the side," said Hensley. "We are resilience, we have faith, and we know that our voices matter."
Hensley legally came to the United States as a TPS holder and settled in Springfield in 2020.
Pastor Reginald Silencieux is with the League of Haitian Pastors of Springfield. Through an interpreter, he reminds the group of the campaign to UNSHACKLE SPRINGFIELD–urging the Department of Homeland Security to stop using GPS ankle monitors on Haitian immigrants.
"Every time I see this image, it shows me the power of a unity. Unity is a force that breaks all chains," said Silencieux.
This group also wants Ohio’s state leaders to encourage DHS to institute permanent protective status for all Haitian immigrants.
They’ll march 10-12 miles per day with city and or county law enforcement officers escorting them in patrol cars. They also have a medic and a support vehicle.
Rachel Hunter is a song leader from The Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice. She’s also representing her Haitian community in Orlando Florida.
"I am the granddaughter of immigrants, and I challenge everyone in our country. If you look back far enough, unless you're an indigenous person, you are also a descendant of immigrants," said Hunter. "People come to this country to make a better life and to be safe with their families. It's the American Dream."
Pastor Michael Woolf leads the Lake Street Church of Evanston in Illinois. He sees this march as an extension of his ongoing activism to close the Broadview Ice Detention Center outside of Chicago.
"I wanted to stand in solidarity with the Haitian community and really take their leadership and try to support dignity for that community and for everybody," said Woolf. "It's an evil thing to do to try to remove them from those communities, it hurts us. We're hurting ourselves as a country."
Michael Louise is with the Haitian chapter of Undivided. She settled in Springfield in 2021 under TPS because Haiti was increasingly unsafe. But now Louise questions the future for Haitian immigrants living in the U.S.
"The Haitian community, they still live in fear and uncertainty because they don't know what's next, hat can happen after one month. After today. Imagine. It's like they just see every immigrant as a case, as a number, without dignity," said Louise.
Even so, Louise remains optimistic. "I'm going to walk, for me it's like an obligation to speak up. We need to come together and fight for freedom."
Saturday, these community advocates expect to arrive in Columbus, culminating with a rally at the capitol. Organizers say this is one of many efforts to educate Americans on the short-comings of the U.S. immigration system.
