New Yorkers hold vigil for Pierre Damas Bel

New Yorkers held a vigil on Friday for Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant who died by suicide near Springfield, Ohio, last week. Bel came to the United States in 2024 and had an open asylum claim, but after the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration, revoking temporary protected status for the roughly 340,000 Haitians who live in the United States, he was fitted with an ankle monitor by ICE in late July.

Shortly afterward, Bel posted on social media, “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 was beginning his freshman year as an honors neuroscience student at Wright State University. His family said the ankle monitor made it difficult for him to play soccer and participate in ROTC and that he was bullied by university classmates. Bel’s father said Pierre called him, expressing humiliation about having to wear the device, on the morning of August 31. Just hours later, he parked his car on the side of the interstate and walked into oncoming traffic.