On Friday, August 28, 2026, I represented UUSJ at a Faithful Witnessing event in Springfield, Ohio. 

Faithful Witnessing: Unshackle Springfield was an interfaith event led by Haitian immigrants and other faith leaders in Springfield. Faith groups were asked to go to Springfield to support local faith leaders in defending Haitian churches, particularly Haitian pastors who have been detained by ICE, supporting and standing with the Haitian community, and sharing with the world their tragic story. 

I felt like I was part of something of transcendent importance in working with the other people who were there. 

I called Ohio’s Governor, our two US Senators, and the US congressman representing Springfield. We urged them to support removing two Haitian pastors from detention and preventing their deportation. After my calls, I spent most of the day texting or emailing many personal contacts pre-prepared information on how they could make similar calls. I helped pack food for immigrants who are often afraid to leave their homes.

We followed local leaders, especially Haitians.  

Faithful Witnessing concluded with a public action at the city square in downtown Springfield on Sunday, August 30, at noon. It included a “Jericho March” around City Hall. 

Pablo DeJesús and I attended an evening bilingual church service. The service expressed, in song and words, the hope and fear many felt. The wife of one of the detained pastors spoke of how she wanted her husband back. There was a reading of the Immigrant’s Creed. The creed includes the following: “I believe that the communion of the saints begins when we accept the diversity of the saints.” 

“I was pleased to be a part of the Unitarian Universalist response in Springfield, Ohio. It was a meaningful mobilization. Ministers and lay leaders came from throughout Ohio and nearby states to show solidarity, assist with mutual aid, and be present in the movement for days on end. Each person did what they could, according to their skills and capacity.  

This was an important symbolic action and stress test for our ability to respond. We helped build awareness of the continued and mounting mutual aid and moral support needs of the Haitian community as they face the termination of TPS and mounting harassment.

We remain firm: Congress must address and correct the harm by the Administration. This is not what the majority of Americans want to see happen on immigration for our neighbors, friends, families, and loved ones. We have been, and are, going in the wrong direction.” – Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director, UUSJ