Ohio Buries 20-Year-Old Haitian Migrant as Trump Rallies 4,000 on Deportations
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 4
Ohio Buries 20-Year-Old Haitian Migrant as Trump Rallies 4,000 on Deportations
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 4
Summary
More than 250 mourners gathered in Springfield, Ohio, to bury Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian student whose death has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate.
Bel stepped in front of a truck in late August after the Trump administration canceled Haitians’ temporary protections; relatives said an ICE ankle monitor deepened his shame while his asylum case and student-visa plea were still pending.
Twenty-five miles away, Trump addressed more than 4,000 supporters near Dayton and again leaned into hard-line immigration rhetoric, despite advisers’ warnings and Ohio races that have become more competitive.
Springfield’s Haitian community cast Bel as a casualty of mass deportation, while many rallygoers said his death did not alter their support for removing people in the country illegally.
Gov. Mike DeWine, who attended the funeral and has called ending TPS for Haitians a mistake, said Bel’s death was both a personal tragedy and a loss for the country.