Two pastors detained, a student dead: Haitians in Ohio turn to faith amid fear of ICE

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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — Only days after two Haitian pastors were detained by federal immigration agents in Springfield, Ohio, the wife of one of the pastors, Denise Adrien Gedeon, arrived at a Friday (Aug. 28) evening vigil in support of Haitians in the embattled city.

Asked to speak, she took the microphone at Champion City Church. Her voice trembling, eyes closed and hand raised, she began to sing: “We give you all the glory. We worship you our Lord, you are worthy to be praised.”

Then she spoke in Haitian Creole about her faith and God, with Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian community leader and pastor, interpreting. “Despite everything, despite the difficult time, we believe in him, and we believe he will see us through,” she said, adding she did not want money or food — just the return of her husband, Joubert Adrien, whom she met singing in a church choir in Haiti in 1999. He was detained Aug. 20.

Gedeon’s plea was part of an especially turbulent week in Springfield, Ohio. After the arrests of two Haitian pastors, Adrien and…