Inside the Underground Safe Houses Sheltering Immigrants From ICE

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/us/trump-immigration-ice-raids-safe-houses.html




The upstairs room was ready.

Three teddy bears and a smiling cloth doll were propped on a neatly made bed. A bassinet was nearby. On the dresser was a sanctuary of care: baby shampoo, lotion and talcum powder.

Night was falling in Springfield, Ohio, when the Haitian mother and her 1-month-old baby arrived. Lee, in her 70s, had never met the woman on her doorstep. Still, they embraced. After cooing over the infant, Lee led her guests on a tour of the house, ending with the bedroom that would serve as their redoubt from a feared immigration sweep.

Across Springfield that evening, anxiety was mounting. Haitians and their American supporters were awaiting a federal court ruling, expected by midnight Feb. 2, about the fate of Temporary Protected Status, or T.P.S., for Haiti, the program that has allowed beneficiaries to live and work legally in the United States

Some did something more risky: They discreetly converted spare bedrooms and finished basements into places of refuge.

In the days before the Feb. 2 expiration of T.P.S., many Haitian families began withdrawing from daily life.


These are not seasoned activists. They are neighbors, like Jean.

A woman in her 40s with no political or religious affiliations, Jean said she had felt compelled to step up after an unsettling incident at work. An immigrant employee at the company, which is not in Springfield, was detained by immigration agents. Jean began thinking about the Haitian families in her own community.