Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained a “beloved” Springfield, Ohio, pastor Thursday morning, according to a local faith-based organization.
G92, which advocates for their immigrant neighbors, said in a news release that agents detained Gilbert Joubert Adrien at a South Limestone Street gas station Aug. 20.
“The community is really deeply saddened,” said G92 member Marjory Wentworth. “It makes everyone feel even more vulnerable.”
The release did not state Adrien’s church for “security reasons.”
Vilés Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center, said he speaks with Adrien all the time. They share their faith and distribute items to people in Springfield, working together as pastors and community leaders.
“If he is being deported, the congregation will be here terrified and without their leader,” Dorsainvil said.
Adrien, 41, is in ICE custody at the Butler County Jail, according to a Department of Homeland Security detainee locator website. The jail also lists him as an inmate.
An estimated 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield were here legally with Temporary Protected Status, a federal designation granted to immigrants from countries facing conditions such as natural disasters or armed conflict, according to an Enquirer report. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS in June.
“If he is being deported, the congregation will be here terrified and without their leader,” Dorsainvil said.
Haitian residents of Springfield have been receiving letters calling them in for appointments at ICE field offices, The Enquirer previously reported. Some have been given ankle monitors, an alternative to detention used by ICE, that restrict them to a 75-mile radius from their home address.
Enquirer Watchdog Reporter Victoria Moorwood and Regional Politics Reporter Erin Glynn contributed.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ICE detains Haitian pastor ‘beloved’ by Springfield community. Via Reuters.
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