Federal immigration agents in southwest Ohio have started fitting Haitian immigrants with electronic ankle trackers, in some cases before their legal protections had formally run out, according to reporting carried by WLRN. Attorneys say the practice is concentrated almost entirely in Springfield — a city estimated to be home to between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitian residents — and has not surfaced in other large Haitian communities such as Boston, Chicago, or Miami.
Electronic monitoring is typically reserved for immigrants with a criminal history, an active deportation order, or a missed court date — not people who showed up voluntarily to a scheduled government check-in. Lynn Tramonte, who runs the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, described the tactic to States Newsroom as little more than "theater" — a way to project enforcement while leaving the people wearing the devices with a daily reminder that they are not free to move as they choose. Vilès Dorsainvil, who leads Springfield's main Haitian support organization, told the Haitian Times the monitors amount to a "new humiliation" for a community that has been under a national spotlight since 2024.
