St. Vincent de Paul, Springfield, Ohio Coach Casey Rollins
St. Vincent de Paul Director Casey Rollins speaks about relief efforts for Springfield residents after the Feb. 2 ruling delaying the end of TPS for Haitians.
- A federal judge reported receiving death threats after blocking the termination of Temporary Protected Status for a Haitian national.
- Judge Ana Reyes denied the government’s request to suspend an order allowing Haitian immigrants to remain in the United States while the case is pending.
- The judge read excerpts of violent and misogynistic messages sent to her chambers during a court hearing.
A federal judge who denied the federal government’s motion to stay a ruling blocking the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians said he received death threats in the days following the ruling.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who upheld the Department of Homeland Security’s removal of Haiti’s TPS designation in early February, last week denied the government’s request to suspend the order pending an appeal. This means Haitian immigrants here at TPS will be allowed to remain in the country for the time being.
Reyes announced the ruling during a Feb. 12 hearing in which he also addressed the backlash to his decision and the violent messages sent to the chamber.
Federal judge threatens after Haiti ruling
Reyes read excerpts of messages purportedly sent directly to her chambers, including an email telling her to “eat a bullet” and expressing a hope that she might die, according to motion hearing records. She also cited social media posts calling for lynching of judges and violence against their families.
“Last week, after DHS issued an opinion calling for a halt to the removal of Haiti’s TPS designation, it became very clear that many people had very strong opinions about me, and let me just say that those opinions were not uniformly positive,” Reyes said.
Reyes, who was appointed to the federal district court by former President Joe Biden in 2022, said she received hundreds of messages saying things like “I hope you die before noon” and “The best way to help America is to eat a bullet,” as well as numerous misogynistic attacks and posts calling her a “foreign-born lesbian” and questioning her qualifications.
“First of all, yes, I am an immigrant…” Reyes said during the hearing. “I came to this job by nomination by the President of the United States, who was popularly elected and confirmed by the United States Senate, who was also popularly elected.”
Reyes, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and has 22 years of experience handling high-profile federal cases, said he welcomes the criticism but won’t succumb to fear as a result of the escalating death threats.
“It’s common for judges to receive these types of threats these days,” Reyes said, adding that some of his colleagues have received “even worse threats” and “legitimate threats to kill the judge’s family.”
“My colleagues and I continue to uphold our oath to act without fear or favor,” she said. “We will not be intimidated.”
The TPS case is currently pending in the DC Court of Appeals.
Why is the Haiti TPS case important to Ohio?
The Trump administration wants to end TPS, which allows Haitians and people from 14 other countries (designated due to dangerous conditions in those countries) to legally live and work in the United States until the federal government determines it is safe to return to their home countries.
Approximately 30,000 Haitians live in central Ohio, many of them in shelters. An additional 20,000 people are estimated to live in Springfield.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance targeted Springfield’s Haitian community, falsely claiming its members were responsible for crimes and pet eating.
Amid continued national scrutiny and uncertainty, Haitians in Springfield are under threat from bomb attacks, while local residents are rallying to protest efforts to end their protected status.
Featured reporter Amani Bayo can be reached at abayo@dispatch.com..
