Wright State Freshman Pierre Damas Bel Had Hoped to Become a Doctor Before Losing Immigration Protections and Being Placed Under ICE Monitoring
Pierre Damas Bel had recently graduated with honors from high school and begun his first semester at Wright State University, where the 20-year-old Haitian immigrant hoped his education would eventually lead him to medical school.
Days after beginning college, Bel was dead.
Bel was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer Monday, Aug. 31, after authorities said he parked his car along Interstate 70 near Springfield, Ohio, got out and entered the westbound lanes. His family and immigrant advocates say he died by suicide after weeks of distress over losing Temporary Protected Status, being required to wear an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ankle monitor and facing bullying because of the device. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate the death.
His death comes just weeks after the San Antonio Observer reported on Haitian immigrants leaving mandatory ICE appointments wearing GPS monitors as the Trump administration moved forward with ending TPS protections for roughly 350,000 Haitians.
From Honors Graduate to ICE Monitoring
Bel came to the United States in 2024 to reunite with his parents, who had also fled Haiti and had a pending asylum case.
He graduated with honors from Springfield High School in May and was active in JROTC and soccer. At Wright State, he planned to study physiology and neuroscience as part of his path toward becoming a doctor.
But his immigration situation changed after the Trump administration ended Haiti’s TPS designation and the Supreme Court cleared the way for the termination to proceed. The Observer previously reported that the decision stripped hundreds of thousands of Haitians of protections from deportation and work authorization.
Bel was summoned to an immigration check-in in July and fitted with a GPS ankle monitor as part of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program.
For Bel, his family says, the device quickly became more than an immigration requirement.
Related: Haitian TPS Ends as Families Face ICE Arrests, Ankle Monitors and Lost Jobs
His father, Pierre Ronal Bel, said his son felt humiliated by wearing it and struggled with comments from other students. The monitor also interfered with soccer, a sport Bel had played for years.
“He felt he was treated like an animal,” his father said in a statement shared by advocates.
Bel had publicly described that humiliation weeks earlier.
“I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone,” Bel wrote on Instagram in July. “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.”
His Father Says Bel Called Hours Before His Death
The morning Bel died, his father said he received a video call from his son.
“He called me at 8:03 on a video call, [saying] I’m not feeling okay mentally because of the bullying, and I told him to come home so we can talk,” his father said in a statement. “Around 11, the Police showed up at my door to report that my son threw himself under a truck.”
State troopers said they received a call at approximately 8:45 a.m. reporting that Bel had been struck on I-70.
His family said his emotional condition had deteriorated after being placed under monitoring. They also said Bel was deeply hurt after he did not receive a JROTC uniform alongside classmates shortly before his death, something he believed was connected to his immigration status and ankle monitor.
Wright State University said counseling and support services were being made available following Bel’s death and described the loss as devastating.
Haitian Families Face Deportation to a Country Still in Crisis
Bel’s death has intensified criticism of the federal government’s treatment of Haitian immigrants as the end of TPS leaves hundreds of thousands vulnerable to deportation.
That prospect is particularly alarming because Haiti continues to struggle with widespread gang violence, displacement and political instability.
The Observer previously reported that the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end the protections despite challenges from immigrant advocates who argued that returning Haitians to the country would place them in danger.
Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, has argued that a court ruling allowing the government to end TPS does not mean conditions in Haiti have become safe.
“The reality on the ground is undeniable: people are being killed, homes are being burned, communities are being overrun by armed gangs, and more than a million people have already been displaced,” Jozef said.
Bel’s death is also renewing questions about ICE’s use of ankle monitors on immigrants who are not incarcerated but remain subject to immigration proceedings.
For his family, however, the debate is now painfully personal. Bel had come to the United States hoping to build a future through school, soccer and eventually medicine.
He had barely begun college when that future ended.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or considering suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
