Ohio’s GOP Governor Calls Trump’s Plans to Deport Haitians a “Mistake”: “You’d Be Sending People … Back to Hell”

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told CBS News the Trump administration’s plan to ramp up arrests and deportations of Haitian migrants is a “mistake,” arguing the move could bruise the state’s economy and risk putting Haitians in danger in their home country.

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In an interview on Monday in Columbus, DeWine said the planned deportation operations would be “a blow to Springfield” and “a blow to the state of Ohio.”

“These are people who have helped Springfield really come back,” DeWine said, pointing to Haitians who have filled jobs and opened businesses in an economically challenged city. “The Haitians who are living there and employed there, they came there to work, and they came there because there were jobs that were not being filled by other people.”

DeWine also pointed to the dire security situation in Haiti, a deeply impoverished country that has dealt with years of political instability, with gangs controlling large swaths of territory. The country is mired in “virtual chaos,” the governor said, with “no semblance of government,” leading the U.S. State Department to warn Americans not to travel there.

The governor predicted that many Haitians would go to some other country rather than return.

“Haiti is hell today. So you’d be sending people … back to hell,” DeWine said. “Very few of these Haitians will voluntarily go back to Haiti. 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.”

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