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For the past two months, hundreds of Haitians in Springfield have been targeted by immigration authorities and forced to wear ankle monitors, as the Trump administration metes out collective punishment to appeal to its far right base.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians at the end of June, immigration enforcement has ramped up its detentions and deportations of Haitians — with its surge most concentrated in Springfield, Ohio.

The overturn of TPS was followed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sending letters to Haitian immigrants in Springfield, requiring them to report in person so they could be fitted with ankle monitors to track their locations until it is decided whether they will be deported. Throughout August, ICE’s surveillance of Haitians in Springfield through ankle monitors continued to rise.

Michaelle Louis, a Haitian organizer in Springfield, spoke with Truthout about the effects of the ankle monitoring program on members of her community.

Community members have “described their fear, their feeling of isolation, shame, anxiety and uncertainty,” as a result of being forced to wear ankle monitors, she said. For many, the monitors affect their ability to work, travel, and be around others, as community members sometimes fear being around people who are being tracked.

ICE “Disappears” Thousands Ordered to Be Deported From Detainee Locator

On August 31, Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Springfield resident, died in an apparent suicide after being forced to wear an ankle monitor.

“I take it very personally,” Louis said, “because as a mom of a 16-year-old, they shared the same high school, and they knew each other.” Louis spoke of witnessing the confusion and pain in Haitian youth since the administration ended TPS at the end of July — and being unable to answer her own teenage daughter’s questions about why this was happening. “I can feel the pain” Damas Bel’s family is going through, she added.

Around the same time as Damas Bel’s........

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