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A Republican governor in a state that voted to elect President Donald Trump is facing intense backlash online after an interview arguing against the president’s order to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) migrants from the United States.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s state is home to an estimated 30,000 Haitian TPS holders. He told CBS earlier this week that the Haitians shouldn’t be sent back to their country of origin.
“Haiti is hell today. So you’d be sending people … back to hell,” he said. “Very few of these Haitians will voluntarily go back to Haiti. If they have to leave, they’ll go someplace else. They want to work. They want to support their family. They don’t want to go back to Haiti.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. (Fox News Digital)
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Online detractors quickly seized on DeWine’s comments, mostly from users claiming that those responsible for Haiti’s conditions are the ones that the governor wants to allow to stay in the United States.
“What makes Haiti hellish? Is it…the Haitians?” asked Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, in response to CBS’ story about the interview posted on X.
“Hey governor, what is it that makes Haiti so bad anyway?” The Blaze’s Logan Hall asked.
“I think the real question here is, if Haiti is hell, why are we importing Haitians?” questioned internet personality Larry Sanger.
President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, July 24, 2026. The Trump administration is seeking wider deployment of both large, conventional reactors and smaller ones alike after a series of executive orders by the president, who sees nuclear reactors as a key source of power for data centers and economic growth. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Others referenced the liberal media’s freakout when, in 2018, Trump referred to Haiti and some other nations as “s—hole” countries.
Meanwhile, TV personalities and talking heads, comedian Conan O’Brien chief among them, defended Haiti for its natural beauty.
“Still reeling from [Trump’s] very negative Yelp review of Haiti, which means I’ll love it,” O’Brien said at the time, announcing a trip to the country. “I have no idea what the president has against the people of Haiti, but if the president doesn’t like them, they must be lovely people.”
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One X user specifically blamed Haitians for DeWine’s characterization that the country is “hell.”
“Or is it a paradise like so many celebrities have said?” the user asked.
“I was reliably informed by democrats [sic] and hollywood [sic] celebrities that Haiti is utopia,” said another user.
“What a tragedy it would be for Haitians to live in Haiti,” said another X user.
Show host Conan O’Brien speaks during the start of the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 2, 2025. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
DeWine argued in the CBS interview that sending Haitians back to Haiti would be a “mistake” that would endanger the lives of the TPS holders.
He also specifically mentioned Springfield, his hometown, which has a large population of Haitian TPS holders.
“These are people who have helped Springfield really come back,” DeWine said. “The Haitians who are living there and employed there, they came there to work, and they came there because there were jobs that were not being filled by other people.”
TPS was officially terminated Monday after Trump’s order survived a Supreme Court review.
“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary. For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speaks at a news conference on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)
TPS was created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, and was designed for people facing serious emergencies like armed conflict or severe natural disasters. Critics claim it has been abused to give status to those in the U.S. for non-emergent reasons.
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DeWine’s office declined to comment on “statements made in online comment sections,” when reached by Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not hear back at time of publication.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
