American Association of University Professors
We mourn Pierre Damas Bel—a 20-year-old Haitian student, scholar, and gifted soccer player whose future should have been filled with possibility.
Instead, an immigration system treated him like a criminal. He was forced to wear an ankle monitor, publicly stigmatized, and, according to his family and advocates, driven into profound emotional anguish. His family believes the treatment he endured contributed to his death by suicide.
This is not simply a tragedy. It is a failure of our institutions and our humanity.
Pierre was not a threat. He was a student. An athlete. A son. A young man who dreamed of becoming a physician and playing college soccer. His dreams should never have been collateral damage in an immigration enforcement system built around surveillance, punishment, and humiliation.
The passivity of Ohio’s college and university presidents who refuse to take meaningful steps to protect their campuses and students from immigration enforcement cannot be tolerated. Higher education leaders have a moral responsibility to defend the safety, dignity, and educational opportunity of every student. Silence and inaction in the face of fear and intimidation are not neutrality—they are a choice.
We refuse to accept the dehumanization of immigrant students as normal or inevitable.
We demand accountability. We demand that college and university leaders stand up for their students. We demand policies that protect campuses from unnecessary immigration enforcement and protect immigrant students from harassment, surveillance, discrimination, and dehumanization.
Pierre’s life mattered. His dreams mattered. And his death must move us to action.
No more treating students like criminals. No more university leaders standing by while immigrant students live in fear. No more sacrificing human dignity in the name of immigration enforcement.