September 10, 2026
Pierre Damas Bel, a young 20-year-old Haitian recently enrolled at university, tragically took his own life on Monday, August 31, in Springfield, Ohio.
He threw himself under a car, unable to bear the incessant mockery of his classmates.
They stigmatized him because of the electronic bracelet placed on his ankle by ICE.
The tragedy comes as the young man was among the migrants who crossed the Mexican border to reach the United States.
His family, informed by the police, is in shock.
Damas’s body remains under the control of the American authorities.
This suicide stirs strong emotion within the Haitian diaspora and raises questions about the support provided to migrant students, who are often vulnerable to harassment and bureaucracy.
