Fact Check: Are Haitian Immigrants Illegal in Springfield, USA? | US election 2024

CBS News anchors muted the vice presidential candidates' microphones only once during the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate: during a discussion about immigration. Particularly when it came to the issue of immigration in Springfield, Ohio – the small Midwestern city that was thrust into the national spotlight after former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, spread baseless claims that Immigrants there would eat pets.

The point in question: Are Haitian immigrants illegal in Springfield, Ohio, in the United States?

During the debate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized Vance for spreading misinformation about Springfield's Haitian immigrants. The moderators gave Vance one minute to respond.

“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities across the country, there are schools that are overwhelmed, hospitals that are overwhelmed, housing that is completely unaffordable because we have recruited millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce resources Houses,” Vance said.

Walz spoke again before anchor and CBS News Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan jumped in.

“And just to be clear to our viewers, in Springfield, Ohio, there are a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status: temporary protected status,” Brennan said.

“Margaret, the rules were that you wouldn't fact-check, and since you're fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on,” Vance said. “So there's an application called the CBP One app that allows you to continue as an illegal immigrant, apply for asylum or parole, and get legal status with a Kamala Harris wand for open borders. This is not a person who comes in, applies for a green card and waits 10 years.”

We found Vance's statement about the phone app — which is a scheduling tool, not an asylum or parole application — mostly false.

In making this claim, we're focusing on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, who city officials say make up most of the immigrants who have settled there in the last four years. Are they legal in the US?

We cannot confirm the status of every immigrant who has recently moved to the city. But local and state officials said most were there legally because they were under temporary legal protection, humanitarian parole and temporary protected status in the United States.

Immigration law experts told PolitiFact that Haitians who participate in these temporary programs are in the U.S. legally.

Vance's spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment. But Vance has previously said of Haitian migrants: “If (Democratic presidential candidate) Kamala Harris waves her magic wand illegally and says these people are here legally now, I'm still going to call them illegal immigrants.”

Immigration programs give Haitians temporary permission to stay in the United States

President Joe Biden has created and expanded opportunities for Haitians and other immigrants to temporarily live and work legally in the United States. They are:

Humanitarian Parole for Non-U.S. Applicants: In January 2023, Biden expanded a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans to include Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans. The program allows up to 30,000 eligible individuals to be granted humanitarian parole each month, allowing them to legally enter the United States and live and work there for up to two years. To qualify for the program, individuals must apply from outside the United States and have a U.S. sponsor, such as a family member.

As of August, nearly 214,000 Haitians had entered the United States under this humanitarian parole.

Temporary protection status: In June, the Biden administration expanded and reset temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants. People with temporary protection status are protected from deportation. This protection is provided by the Secretary of Homeland Security to people from certain countries affected by war, environmental disasters, and epidemics. The program also allows eligible immigrants to live and work legally in the U.S. for a period of six to 18 months. To apply, individuals with temporary protected status must be in the United States at the time of designation of their home country.

Before the renaming in June, about 200,000 Haitians benefited from temporary protection. The June promotion allowed any Haitian who met eligibility requirements and had lived in the United States by June 3, 2024 to apply. The Department of Homeland Security estimated that 309,000 additional Haitians would be eligible.

People can apply for temporary protected status regardless of whether they entered the United States legally or illegally.

Humanitarian Parole at US Ports of Entry: In January 2023, Biden expanded use of CBP One, the phone scheduling application introduced by the Trump administration that allows people in Mexico to schedule appointments at official U.S. ports of entry. There, immigration officials can parole people for up to two years on humanitarian grounds, allowing them to live and work in the U.S. while they seek asylum. From January 2023 to May 2024, 119,000 Haitians made appointments through the app. We don't know how many were granted this parole.

These programs provide Haitians with legal status in the United States

The Immigration and Nationality Act describes people with temporary protected status as “being in and maintaining lawful nonimmigrant status.” The term “nonimmigrant” refers to individuals who are temporarily residing in the United States.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states on its website that people with humanitarian parole or temporary protected status have “lawful immigration status.” Immigration law gives the executive branch the authority to give people these protections, said Jean Reisz, co-director of the University of Southern California Immigration Clinic.

We asked the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the department, about the immigration status of those granted temporary protection status and humanitarian parole. We have not received any response.

But immigration law experts say that once immigrants have temporary protected status, they are in the U.S. legally — regardless of how they entered the U.S. before receiving it.

However, temporary protected status and humanitarian parole do not provide people with a path to citizenship. Therefore, people with a suspended sentence on humanitarian grounds or temporary protected status must use another route – such as asylum, marriage or employment – to obtain legal permanent residence.

This leaves people who have these protections in a “precarious, non-permanent status” that can expire or be terminated by the president, Reisz said. For example, in November 2017, Trump attempted to revoke temporary protected status for Haitians. Legal challenges prevented the termination. Trump once again promises to revoke Haiti's temporary protected status if elected.

When protections expire or are ended, people return to the status they had before those protections, said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. And people who have no legal basis for staying in the USA would have to leave the country or be deported, said Reisz.

But that deportation wouldn't happen immediately, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell University.

“They would all have the right to a deportation hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether they have a right to remain here, such as asylum,” Yale-Loehr said. That could take years due to backlogs in immigration courts.

Our verdict

Vance said immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “illegal immigrants.”

City officials said most of the immigrants who recently arrived in Springfield are Haitian. We don't know the immigration status of all of them, but officials have said many are in the country under Humanitarian Probation and Temporary Protected Status. These protections allow them to temporarily live and work legally in the country. Both humanitarian parole and temporary protected status are considered lawful statuses under immigration law, immigration experts said.

Neither program allows people to stay in the U.S. permanently, but even though the temporary protections are in place, they are not here illegally, immigration experts said.

We believe Vance's claim is false.