WASHINGTON (Yahoo News) - A 20-year-old Haitian immigrant has died after entering traffic on Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio, shortly after losing temporary “protected status” and being placed under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement electronic monitoring program.
Commenting on the Monday development, Pierre Damas Bel’s family said they believed he had died “by suicide,” saying he had become increasingly distressed by the ankle monitor and the prospect of deportation.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Bel parked his vehicle on the shoulder of westbound I-70, left the car and walked into traffic. He was struck by a tractor-trailer and pronounced dead at the scene. The westbound lanes were closed for about three hours.
Bel was among an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants, who had recently lost temporary protected status. He had a pending asylum claim and had been summoned to an ICE office after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with ending the “protection for Haitian recipients.”
Federal immigration agents subsequently placed an electronic monitor on his ankle.
His father, Pierres Ronal Bel, said his son felt humiliated by the device. “He felt like he was treated like an animal,” his father said.
Bel had arrived in the United States in 2024 to reunite with his parents. He dreamed of studying medicine, graduated high school with honors, and was a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. His family described him as smart and responsible.
His father said the ankle monitor prevented Bel from playing soccer and that classmates bullied him. Bel had also asked immigration officers to remove the device, but they refused.
In a late-July Instagram post, Bel wrote, “I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone,” he wrote. “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.”
On Monday morning, Bel called his father, saying, according to the latter, “‘I’m not feeling okay.’” “I told him to come so that we can talk,” the father added.
Bel’s death has intensified concern within Springfield’s Haitian community, estimated at roughly 15,000 people, amid increased ICE activity following the termination of Haiti’s “protected status.” Community authorities say residents are under severe pressure over fears of detention and deportation.
Guerline Jozef of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit working on behalf of Haitian and other black immigrants to the United States, said, “These policies are what caused his untimely death.”