An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians live in Springfield, with both short-lived protected status, citizenship and other legal status. (Photo: Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
This story was originally reported by Amanda Becker from 19.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Katie Paris kicks off the ‘Unite for Springfield’ event Zoom meeting with over 4,000 people earlier this month, asking participants to share one thing that gave them hope in the chat.
“Times are hard. The topic we are discussing today is hard. We are in a hard moment. In these times, it is extremely important to tap into a sense of hope,” said the mother of two, sitting in front of a colorful wall displaying her children’s works.
“One thing that gives you hope right now, okay, let’s hit the chat. Let’s see them,” Paris suggested.
“My children.”
“The Minnesotans.”
“Community.”
“Family.”
“Decency.”
“Grandchildren.”
“Liam Ramos“
Red Wine & Blue, an organization Paris founded in 2019 to build a diverse “sisterhood” of suburban women to fight political extremism, hosted a conference call hours before Tuesday evening’s scheduled expiration of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, an immigration designation that has allowed about 350,000 Haitians to live and work legally in the country.
Springfield, a city of 60,000 in central Ohio where as many as one in four residents is Haitian, stayed preparing for an influx of federal immigration enforcement officers similar to the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown in Minnesota. Paris, who lives near Cleveland, about a three-hour drive northeast of Springfield, softened his hopeful tone as he began his encounter with political reality.
“Last night A federal judge blocked Trump administration since ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians living and working legally in America, and the fight is not over yet. The Department of Homeland Security immediately said yes taking the case to the United States Supreme Courtand we know what this means: in the case of the Supreme Court, Haitians could lose their status in a matter of weeks,” Paris said.
“We will talk about the further legal ramifications of this situation, we will talk about what we can learn from Minneapolis, and how we can stay safe. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will give you the opportunity tonight to take real action,” she continued.
Women are leading the way opposition Down Donald Trump’s second presidencyplaying a key role in resistance efforts and creating groups to counteract the administration’s immigration policies and more.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked Haitians in Springfield with lies — as Vice President J.D. Vance of Ohio has now done — to reinforce his calls for a crackdown on even legal immigration. The president said he would “protect” women from immigrants, “whether women like it or not”, despite polls showing that women do not rank immigration among their main concerns, they also didn’t trust Trump the most on this matter.
The PBS News/NPR/Marist Poll released Thursday showed just that almost two-thirds of Americans now believe that Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, went too far in its methods after federal agents killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. When broken down by genderthe poll found that only 26 percent of women said they approved of ICE’s actions compared to 40 percent of men.
Paris which he worked in national politics before returning to her husband’s hometown from Washington, D.C., she founded Red Wine & Blue to harness the political power of suburban women, a rapidly diversifying group that determines election outcomes and often votes with different priorities than men.
“It was really my reaction to the 2018 election and seeing all these women, especially suburban women, become involved in politics for the first time as a result of the 2016 election.” – she said in an interview after the organizational meeting. “I knew we had to keep them engaged, and women aren’t always taken as seriously as I think they should be.”
The Ohio chapter was Red Wine & Blue’s first, followed by chapters in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan – all critical states in the presidential election. There is also a nationwide network of Trouble Nation groups for women living outside these four states. Red Wine & Blue currently has over 600,000 members and employs approximately 60 people. Association members and affiliated groups organized 4,000 events last year, most of them in person.
The opportunity for action during Tuesday evening’s Zoom was a series of requests for donations to Springfield groups supporting Haitian families. Participants heard from local pastor Carl Rubywhose congregation embraces Haitians and is vocal in supporting them; Catholic charity leader Casey Rollins, who insisted that Haitian parents receive passports and documents for their U.S.-born children in the event of deportation or separation; Viles Dorsainvil, director of the nonprofit Haitian Community Aid and Support Center; and legal experts who advised them on their rights and precautions to take when documenting ICE activity. Reverend Ashley Horan of Minneapolis also joined in to talk about what her community is like they have stepped up to care for their immigrant neighbors.
Between speakers, Paris reminded the callers – the enormous majority of them were women, many of them from Ohio or with ties to Ohio, Haiti or a mix of the two – that the way to aid this time was to donate money and do it quickly. “We will not be maintaining this donation page for long as we need to quickly get these funds into the hands of those organizations that are providing such urgently needed services locally,” she said.
The chat became lively again as participants donated between $10 and $10,000 per match.
“Gifted.”
“Gifted.”
“Forwarded again.”
In less than an hour, Red Wine & Blue exceeded its fundraising goal for the evening, raising over $107,000 for local groups supporting Haitian residents in Springfield.
Red Wine & Blue focuses on what Paris describes as organizing among friends; it doesn’t spend money on steep TV advertising campaigns or anonymous telephone banking services. A third-party analysis that compared Red Wine & Blue’s contacts with voter records found that their field organization increased turnout by 5 percent in even-numbered years and by 8 to 11 percent in odd-numbered years. Paris reported that a recent membership analysis showed that 54 percent of their members are current or former political independents or Republicans.
She gave the group its name – by the way, no drinking of wine is required for membership – because it is “entirely based on stereotypes” that are foisted on women in order to “take back our political power.”
“In 2020, they called us ‘suburban housewives.’ We were “Chardonnay Antifa.” Now they say the “guilty moms” are paid protesters. We were “soccer moms” and “Zoom moms.” I think so all this is intended to reduce usas a group of women who actually have political power,” Paris said.
According to a Fox News columnist wrote last month that “organized wine mom gangs” were using “Antifa tactics” to oppose ICE, Red Wine & Blue and reacted strongly on social media: “Add this to the very long list of names they’ve called us. They may be trying to scare us, they may be trying to embarrass us… but we keep showing up, still supporting our communities.”
After a Zoom call, Paris said: “People are already preparing protest posters for another Day Without Kings, saying: Red Wine & Blue, the original ‘wine moms.’
Meet reporter Amanda Becker and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and politics.
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