Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) said it would be “wrong” for President Donald Trump to remove the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians.
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor DeWine in Ohio, your state has been the focus of the Trump Vance campaign during 2024 and of their administration now, particularly the Haitians that you have, tens of thousands in the state of Ohio. You said this week, ICE has not been clear on when they’re going to surge to your state. Did you bring that up when you were at the White House?
DEWINE: I did not. I really didn’t have that- have the opportunity to do that. Look, Margaret, my position has been very clear in regard to TPS for Haitians, I think–
BRENNAN: Temporary Protected Status.
DEWINE: Yes.
BRENNAN: Which the President is trying to revoke right now.
DEWINE: I think the policy to revoke that is wrong. I think there’s a consensus in this country. As we all have said, let’s get rid of the violent offenders. Get them out of here. I think there’s a consensus behind the need to do a good job on the border, and I think the president gets high marks for doing that on the- on the border. But once you get beyond that, I don’t think there’s a consensus for taking people who are working, who are supporting their family, and we’ve kind of seen it, almost in a micro way, with the Haitian community that’s come into Springfield. Springfield is an industrial city, manufacturing city that was down. It has been coming back. And frankly, one of the reasons it’s coming back is because of the Haitians who are working there. These are people who, if you talk to the employers, they were filling jobs that were not being able to be filled in any other way. So it’s been a big boost to the economy. So if one day they know that TPS is taken away, no- no employer can hire them anymore. And so you gotta have all these people who are unemployed. So I think the policy there is-is wrong. If I could just say this, I think that this is a real opportunity for the president in regard to immigration, probably after the election- after the election, because nothing’s going to get done before
BRENNAN: Before the midterms of 2026
DEWINE: That’s right, but I think there’s an opportunity here. He sealed the border. You know, I was in Congress in the 80s when the Mazzoli bill, Simpson bill was passed- excuse me. I’ve been through all the arguments. I think there’s an opportunity here to get reform in legal immigration and make a decision who we really want to come in. I’ll give you- if I could just one example. We have our last count, 22,000 foreign students in the state of Ohio. We educate them, and then guess what happens? They go back home, or they go someplace else. We’ve already educated them. They would be a great asset to the state of Ohio. That’s the type of reform–
BRENNAN: You’re talking about comprehensive immigration reform and legal pathways.
DEWINE: I think the president has a chance to do something that no president has done for four decades. If you- if you would take that opportunity, and I think after the election, he’ll have a chance.
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