Pierre Damas Bel had a passion for education and soccer. The 20-year-old Springfield resident and Haitian migrant was scheduled to start classes at Wright State University in Dayton to study neuroscience, according to his friends and family.
But instead of starting classes, Bel publicly died by suicide Aug. 31 by placing himself in front of a truck on a Clark County roadway. Bel's friends and family said he did it because he was forced to wear an ankle monitor due to the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian migrants.
Bel's friends, as well as local immigration activists are now rallying to remember Bel as a son, brother, a hard worker, and soccer fanatic who loved education.
Around 100 people, including Bel's Texas Roadhouse
coworkers and friends, gathered together Sept. 2 at Columbus City Hall to pay homage to Bel. They urged people to speak up for immigrants and to vote in the upcoming November election. Several elected officials were also in attendance, including Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, Sen. Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, State Rep. Munira Abdullahi, of Columbus who represents Ohio's District 9, and Whitehall City Council member Amy Harcar.
The gathering was hosted by the Columbus chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Activists and attendees blamed Bel's death on ICE as well as the Trump administration for their heavy-handed immigration policies that have seen ICE agents deployed in several American cities to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Nadia Jean-Jacques, a Haitian immigrant who serves on the Columbus Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, reflected on her nearly 40 years living in the United States and growing up in Brooklyn, recounting how she experienced anti-Haitian discrimination even in the early 1990s. She compared it to how Haitians in Springfield have been treated by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who have falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating dogs and cats, and have sent ICE into the community to force them out.
She urged vigil attendees to "stand up, fight, and vote for Pierre."
"Pierre was only 20. He was a son, a friend, a student, and most importantly, a human being," State Rep. Abdullahi told the crowd. Like Jean-Jacques, she also urged people to vote and be active in their communities and to look out for their immigrant neighbors.
Yola Lamarre, a Haitian American who has advocated for Columbus' Haitian community, also slammed the dehumanization of Haitian migrants and their reduction to criminals and people who eat cats and dogs, referencing false rumors that were spread last year by the Trump administration about Haitians in Springfield eating cats and dogs.
"I can only imagine if someone hadn't reduced him to a cat and dog eater," Marj said.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nearly 100 gather in Columbus to honor Haitian student who died by suicide
