Haitian Immigrant Dies After Trump Administration Revokes TPS

A 20-year-old Haitian immigrant, Pierre Damas Bel, died by suicide on August 31, 2026, after walking into westbound traffic on Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio, where he was struck by a tractor-trailer. Bel had immigrated to the U.S. in 2024 to reunite with his parents and had a pending asylum claim with a court hearing scheduled for October.

Family members and advocates from the Haitian Bridge Alliance state the death was driven by the stress of losing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the subsequent placement of an electronic ankle monitor by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bel's father stated the monitoring made his son feel "treated like an animal," and Bel had previously expressed feelings of "shame and humiliation" on social media regarding the device.

The loss of TPS affected approximately 350,000 Haitians after the Supreme Court of the United States allowed the Donald Trump administration to proceed with canceling the status. Since the revocation, the administration has conducted two deportation flights to Haiti. While the Ohio State Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has declined to comment on the death.