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Ohio officials in state, Congress, need to step in after death of young Haitian student

By Marilou Johanek | Ohio Capital Journal

Signs of support for Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, after temporary protected status ended on July 27. (Photo by Megan Henry/Ohio Capital Journal)

A promising, young Haitian immigrant in Ohio, fitted with an ICE ankle bracelet in July, threw himself in front of a semi on I-70 on Monday. Pierre Damas Bel, a Springfield immigrant and new student at Wright State University, was pronounced dead at the scene. The 20-year-old, with big dreams of going to medical school, had been mocked by fellow students about the bulky ankle monitor he was forced to wear. On a July 30 Instagram post, Bel shared his pain.

“I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience,” Bel wrote. “I came here to study, build my future and to live a better life, not to be treated like a criminal.”

Like Bel, dozens of Springfield’s Haitians have been fitted with ankle monitors or detained by ICE after their Temporary Protected Status was officially ended by the Trump administration on July 27. The extreme toll on the community— that had come to Springfield legally under TPS to work and raise families until it was safe to return to Haiti— was ironically the emphasis of the “Unshackle Springfield” rally held the day before Bel took his own life.

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