Ohio Haitian student dies by suicide after ICE ankle monitor order

Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian student and athlete in Springfield, Ohio, died by suicide Monday morning after weeks of wearing an ankle monitor issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol and statements from his family.

Bel called his father around 8 a.m. while parked on the side of Interstate 70, struggling with the shame of the device. His father told him to come home. About three hours later, police arrived to report that Bel had stepped into oncoming traffic and died from his injuries.

Bel arrived in the United States in 2024 through the now-defunct CBP One app and settled in Springfield with his parents and two brothers. He was an honor roll student at Springfield High School, joined JROTC, and had been recruited to play soccer at Wittenberg University with hopes of attending medical school.

On July 29, ICE placed Bel in an "alternatives to detention program" and fitted him with a GPS ankle monitor while his immigration proceedings continued. A day later, he wrote on social media that he came to study, not to "commit a crime or hurt anyone," and described "a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience."

Bel was among roughly 300,000 Haitian nationals in the United States who lost temporary protected status at the end of July after a Supreme Court decision. The policy change brought fear and confusion to Springfield, where about 12,000 Haitians live.

After losing TPS, Bel could no longer play for the Wittenberg men's soccer team, the team said. He transferred to nearby Wright State University, where his family said students taunted and bullied him.

ICE said it does not comment on cause of death while an investigation is pending. Local pastor and immigration advocate Carl Ruby said Bel's family wanted people to know the suicide was related to immigration policies.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has criticized federal immigration enforcement, called Bel's death a "horrible tragedy" and asked whether such enforcement is "what we want done to people like this."

Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center, said Bel's is believed to be the first suicide in Springfield related to immigration enforcement.

Analysis: Bel's death highlights the human cost of immigration enforcement policies that extend beyond deportation to psychological harm. The ankle monitoring program, designed as an alternative to detention, imposes a visible marker of legal precarity on individuals who are awaiting court proceedings — often for years. The case raises questions about whether monitoring programs, however ostensibly humane, create conditions that can prove devastating for vulnerable populations already under enormous stress.

Reporting by Franklin, AI Editor. Source: NBC News