Trump blamed for Haitian college student’s suicide amid ‘racist’ attacks on Black immigrants
Immigrant advocates say Pierre Damas Bel’s death highlights the human toll of deportation threats, ankle monitoring and the end of Haitian TPS.
Critics of the Trump administration say President Donald Trump is to blame for the tragic suicide death of a Haitian college student who had lost Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and faced deportation.
“This death was caused by the Trump administration,” says Guerline Jozef, an immigrant rights activist and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an advocacy group championing Black immigrants.
Jozef was contacted by the family of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel minutes after he reportedly jumped in front of a moving truck on Monday in what authorities determined was a suicide. The Ohio student-athlete and JROTC class instructor had grown depressed after being placed in an ankle monitor and facing the looming threat of deportation to Haiti.
As theGrio previously reported, Bel was unable to play soccer and believed that he did not receive his JROTC uniform along with his classmates as a consequence to ankle monitoring device. He shared on Instagram post: “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.”
Jozef said the use of ankle monitors is “psychological warfare,” telling theGrio, “The whole purpose is the criminalization of Black bodies…the whole purpose is making it unbearable for you to the point of despair.”
The death of Pierre Damas Bel has ignited outrage from immigrant rights advocates who say Trump’s ICE policies, administered through the Department of Homeland Security, are causing devastation to Black and brown immigrants.
In November 2025, the Trump administration announced it would end TPS for Haitians. The decision was delayed for several months due to federal lawsuits, but in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could move forward with terminating protections for more than 350,000 Haitians living in the United States.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a statement to theGrio that Pierre’s death was “tragic evidence” that Trump’s “racist, dangerous termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians is dehumanizing, dramatic, and deadly.”
“He did nothing wrong, and yet this administration stripped him of his dignity and humanity by forcing an ankle monitor on him and threatening his deportation just for being Haitian,” said Pressley, who led a successful passage of a U.S. House bill to extend Haitian TPS for three years until the end of Trump’s term in office.
The progressive congresswoman added, “There is no excuse for such cruelty, putting lives at stake and resulting in death at home and abroad. That’s why I’m fighting for the Senate to immediately pass our legislation to restore TPS for Haiti.”
Alejandra Vázquez Baur, director of immigrant students policy, advocacy, and partnerships at EdTrust, says what happened to Bel demonstrates that “the average American can no longer ignore the injustices within the immigration system and the racialized elements of those injustices, specifically targeting Haitian immigrants in the United States.”
Baur said Trump’s rhetoric around immigrants is one thing, but when that “turns into policy and restricts access to opportunity in higher ed or K-12 or health care, that has direct impacts on families.” She told theGrio, “That restricts people’s access to life-saving care resources, opportunities, and you add on the impact of the rhetoric and the way that that echoes through hallways in schools and grocery store pay lines.”
The immigration policy expert said that the way the Trump administration has carried out its immigration enforcement, particularly the use of ankle monitoring, “echoes the carceral state.”
In a statement to theGrio, an ICE spokesperson said Pierre Damas Bel’s death remains under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and that ICE does not comment on the cause of death during a pending investigation.
“We will not speculate about unverified claims regarding other individuals,” said the spokesperson.
The ICE official told theGrio, “No one is required to stay in the United States illegally and wear a monitor. Illegal aliens have a lawful, voluntary option: they can self-deport through the CBP Home app. Eligible participants receive a government-arranged flight home, a $2,600 exit bonus after departure is confirmed, and forgiveness of civil failure-to-depart fines.”
The spokesperson added, “Remaining in the country illegally, while fighting removal, is a choice. Leaving with a free flight home and $2,600 is also a choice. ICE will continue to use detention or alternatives to detention as needed those illegal aliens who stay in violation of the law.”
Jozef of Haitian Bridge Alliance notes that the Trump administration is forcing the deportations of Haitians to their home country at a time of grave concern and economic instability as a result of poverty, political upheaval and gang violence.
“The cruelty seems to know no bounds,” said Jozef, who recalled a bombing massacre in Haiti last week that killed dozens and resulted in more than 50 kidnappings. More than 3,000 Haitians have been killed in 2026 due to gang violence.
“On one hand, the U.S. government is telling U.S. citizens to not go to Haiti, and if for whatever reason they decide to go, to make sure they leave DNA sample behind so they could be identified. But at the same time, the same government is sending U.S. citizen children to Haiti to be killed,” she anguished.
Advocates are calling on the U.S. Senate to pass Congresswoman Pressley’s bill to extend TPS to save lives and prevent another tragedy like Bel’s death.
“TPS recipients are central pillars of many communities across the country. They provide critical health services to aging community members. They are educators. They are business owners, and they, for many communities, are the glue of those communities,” said Baur.
Jozef said, cruelty aside, she is reserving hope that the Trump administration could be compelled to change course on its deportation plans.
“If they have an ounce of humanity in them, especially them saying they are Christians, this should put them on alert,” the activist told theGrio. “At the same time, we know the purpose is to criminalize [and] to destroy lives. But maybe this could be a turning point for them. That’s what we are hoping.”