RIP Pierre Damas Bel
Yesterday, a young man from Springfield died by suicide. According to his Instagram account and family, Pierre Damas Bel was devastated by the ankle shackle the Trump administration forced him to wear after taking his legal status from him. He experienced bullying over it during his first week at Wright State University. Pierre was an honors student who graduated from Springfield High School in 2026 and a member of J-ROTC. He planned to go to medical school.
A few months before he started college, Pierre wrote on Instagram: “Proud of the journey from 🇭🇹 to here 🇺🇸 and ready for the next chapter at Wright State University studying Neuroscience. Thankful for every lesson and every challenge along the way. #ClassOf2026#GrindNeverStops#HaitiStrong#wrightstateuniversity.”
Read a transcription of the handwritten statement from Pierre’s father, Pierre Ronal Bel.
Following is a statement from Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
When I found out about Pierre Damas Bel’s death last night, I looked through his Instagram account. I saw someone who was proud of what he had accomplished in a new country, and excited to go to college. I saw a bright young man who had already achieved successes and was on the path to achieving his dreams. I saw people encouraging him in the comments and calling him “King.” He looked like someone I would have loved to know, someone who was making Ohio and his family proud.
And then I thought about the people in our government who relished destroying his dreams, and ultimately destroyed his life. I thought about what they took from him, his family, his community, and Ohio. These are people who have had everything handed to them their whole lives, and they took Pierre's dignity and the dignity of people like him. It makes me sick. Pierre deserved to be treated like a college student. That is all. He didn't deserve to be shackled. No one does. And they don't deserve to be threatened with deportation to a country we all know isn't safe.
It's sickening that the Trump administration took Haitian-Americans' legal status away, and is putting them in chains. And it's sickening that our state government, U.S. senators, local police, Clark County sheriff, Springfield mayor, and Springfield police chief — everyone "official — is just sitting back and letting it happen.
Right now, the only people standing up and saying, "No, not on our watch," are lawyers, people of faith, and community members. Everyone else has abandoned the community. So again, we ask Governor DeWine, Senators Moreno and Husted, Mayor Rue, Chief Elliot, and Sheriff Clark: "When are you going to show up and do something?” Are you going to continue letting ICE run all over Springfield, shackle this community, and send them to a place where they will be killed? Or are you going to finally say "Enough is enough, we are not letting the federal government terrorize our people any more"?
Because Pierre, his family, and the other Haitians who live here are our people. They are Ohioans. And they don't deserve to die.
Read Demba Ndiath’s reflection after spending four days in Springfield assisting with the “Unshackle Springfield: program.
