Amanda Crouse
News Editor
Students gathered at the Kauke arch on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 19, for a vigil honoring the life of Ohio student Pierre Damas Bel. The vigil was organized jointly by the College’s African Student Union (ASU), Black Student Association (BSA), Black Women’s Organization (BWO), International Students Association (ISA) and Latinas Unidas (LU), along with the Wooster Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Bel was a 20 year-old Haitian student attending Wright State University (WSU) in Fairborn, Ohio. On Aug. 31, he was killed after walking onto Interstate 70 and being struck by a vehicle. Bel’s family believes he committed suicide, and says that he became severely depressed and embarrassed after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forced him to wear an ankle monitor with a tracking device.
Bel came to the U.S. in 2024 as a teenager and lived with family in Springfield, Ohio. He graduated from high school this past spring, and started his first year studying neuroscience at WSU in August.
During the summer of 2026, Bel, along with over 350,000 other Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the U.S., had his Temporary Protected Status (TPS) revoked after a Supreme Court ruling empowered the Trump administration to perform mass cancellations of the protection.
In 2026, ICE ramped up its use of ankle monitors as a tool for tracking immigrants. Aside from raising moral questions about constant surveillance, the monitors can also interfere with an individual’s everyday life and spark feelings of humiliation.
After being fitted with an ankle monitor, Bel was no longer able to play on his soccer team, and experienced bullying by his peers. His family says that WSU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) also alienated Bel by not giving him a program uniform, which further set him apart from his classmates.
On the Kauke staircase, students and Wooster community members held electric candles and members of the DSA distributed flyers on Flock cameras and ICE.
At 7 p.m., Hannah Willis ’28, vice president of BWO, began the vigil by talking about who Bel was in life and introducing the student organizations that sponsored the event.
One of the individuals responsible for organizing the vigil, Ike Nwanoro ’30, spoke about the pattern of violence against Haitians in the U.S., and the deadly consequences that arise from their systematic dehumanization.
“Pierre Damas Bel. Say his name … His death is not in isolation, but brought through a legacy of state-sanctioned violence against the people of Haiti that have successfully revolted against their oppressors for their freedom and they have been punished for it to this day. The state is ultimately responsible for Pierre’s death,” Nwanoro said. He added that he sees Bel as a brother, as their ancestral histories both include the kidnapping, enslavement and murder of African people by European colonists.
Nwanoro continued by sharing a quote from “O, Freedom,” a Black spiritual song written after the Civil War and later, a popular protest song used during the Civil Rights movement. Nwanoro recited from the song’s lyrics:
And before I’d be a slave
I’d be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free.
“My brother Pierre, I hope you are watching us in paradise and in peace and residing in freedom,” Nwanoro said in closing.
Before the rest of the student speakers spoke, Willis led attendees in a moment of silence for Bel.
Nanjappa Apana ’29, secretary of ISA; Chase Dettman ’29 of the DSA; Allyson Achiampong ’29, vice president of BSA; Aniyah Lewis ’27, president of BWO; and Andrea Peralta-Villa ’27, president of LU all stepped forward at different points to speak about the life of Pierre Damas Bel and the widespread impact of violent immigration policing by agencies like ICE.
After statements from student organization leaders, the floor was opened for a community discussion. A clipboard was also passed around, on which students were invited to write down any grievances they might not feel comfortable sharing aloud.
