Haitian Migrant Dies By Suicide After Losing Temporary Protected Status

On Monday morning, a Haitian immigrant parked on the shoulder of Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio, got out of his vehicle and walked into westbound traffic, allowing himself to be hit by a tractor-trailer and killed. That Haitian immigrant had reportedly been fitted with an ankle monitor after losing his temporary protection status (TPS), which was revoked by the Trump administration, not because he was the “worst of the worst” in “criminal illegal aliens,” but because President Donald Trump’s hatred for non-white immigrants was never about legality; it was always about ridding the nation of Black and brown foreigners.

According to the Washington Post, the family of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel believes his death on Interstate 70 was a suicide. He had a pending asylum claim but had been summoned to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office soon after the Supreme Court allowed the President Donald Trump — the commander-in-xenophobic-bigotry, who campaigned on racist anti-immigrant propaganda, such as the false claim that Haitians in Springfield were “eating the pets” of Ohio residents — to proceed with the blanket revocation of TPS from an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants.

Last month, we reported on allegations that Haitian migrants were being summoned by ICE officers and made to wear ankle monitors following the end of their legal residency protections, which was panned across social media as an effort to criminalize and dehumanize them — and, apparently, that effort worked on Bel.

From the Post:

Federal immigration agents placed an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, which is one way the agency tracks immigrants it is seeking to remove from the country.

“He felt like he was treated like an animal,” his father, Pierres Ronal Bel, 40, recounted in a handwritten statement.

Ohio authorities said they are investigating the crash.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the circumstances of Bel’s death while the investigation is ongoing. The Trump administration has been calling Haitian immigrants into ICE offices to be equipped with ankle monitors and has sent two deportation flights to Haiti since temporary protected status was canceled for people from the troubled Caribbean nation. Advocates for the immigrants say the U.S. government is sending people back to a country where criminal gangs are responsible for massacres, kidnapping and extortion.

“These policies are what caused his untimely death,” Guerline Jozef of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides legal aid to Haitian migrants, said of Bel.

Bel had been in the U.S. only since 2024, when he came to reunite with his parents, who had fled Haiti three years earlier. His father said he planned to study medicine, graduated from high school in May with honors and as a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), and wanted to continue life as a cadet in the program. He also said his son was bullied by classmates due to the ankle monitor, which also prevented him from playing soccer due to the weight of the device.

“I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone,” Bell wrote on Instagram in late July, according to the Post. “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.”

According to Vilés Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, Bel’s next asylum court hearing was scheduled for October. Dorsainvil said he was desperate not to return to his home country because he was afraid of the rampant violence.

When we say “the cruelty is the point,” this is what we mean. These are human beings. They’re people with families, dreams, and a will to live — until that will is beaten out of them by an administration that simply doesn’t care.

This is what white supremacy looks like.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts and need someone to talk to, please click here for support.

SEE ALSO:

Nothing Is Safe From Police, Not Even An Innocent Donkey [Op-Ed]

Laura Loomer Is A Mediocre White Woman Who Hates Black Women [Op-Ed]