SPRINGFIELD — With Temporary Protected Status (TPS) now expired, News Center 7 has learned what the Department of Homeland Security is doing next.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Letters have been sent out to some Haitian immigrants in Springfield asking them to show up at some DHS facilities in Ohio.
News Center 7’s Xavier Hershovitz looked into what the letters mean and what happens next.
>>RELATED: Haitian community looking at next steps after TPS expires
The letters are some of the first immigration actions News Center 7 has seen since TPS expired.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Clark County Park District cuts ranger division to fight budget shortfall
- Check your tickets! Winning lottery ticket sold at area gas station
- Kenton Ridge High School softball coach named Cincinnati Reds Coach of Year
“The G 56 call-in letter process is something that has existed for a long time,” Michael Davis, senior counsel at Haynes Novick Kohn Immigration, said.
Davis is an immigration attorney.
He helps clients with their immigration status. In the past, he’s worked as a government attorney and an immigration judge.
News Center 7 has obtained these letters, sent by DHS to some Haitian immigrants in Springfield.
“A call-in letter is essentially a request from DHS that a non-citizen come to one of their offices for a particular purpose,” Davis said.
The letters aren’t specific, only asking for them to come to an office near Cincinnati and Columbus, “in connection with an official matter.”
“If you don’t show up and DHS has already identified you as someone who they may want to place in a removal proceedings, then that case could become one that gets transferred over to one of their at-large enforcement teams,” Davis said.
He said each person’s case will be different and depend heavily on their immigration status.
Some may be detained for removal; others may be detained and given bond.
“If the individual has community ties, property ties, maybe family ties, has paid taxes, generally complied with legal obligations, they will have a good case to make before an immigration judge that they don’t pose a flight risk,” Davis said.
The Haitian Support Center and other community groups have been working to get people in Springfield legal help.
They’ve also been working with non-citizen parents to make plans for their citizen children.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
