Pan-African Studies Center Condemns U.S. Immigration Policies After Death of Haitian Student; Calls for Global Accountability

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Center for Pan-African Studies, guided by the foundational principles of Pan-African unity and the liberation of the global African family, today issued a forceful condemnation of United States immigration policies that target and oppress citizens of African descent. This condemnation comes in the wake of the tragic death of Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant and college student who died by suicide on August 31, 2026, after being forced to wear a GPS ankle monitor by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Pierre, an honors student and aspiring neuroscience major at Wright State University, had his Temporary Protected Status (TPS) revoked following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the Trump administration to end protections for approximately 350,000 Haitians. In an Instagram post shortly after being fitted with the device, he wrote:

"I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn't come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I'm walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience."

Pierre's father stated that his son was humiliated and bullied by classmates who accused him of being a criminal because of the monitor. "The government treated my son like an animal," his father said.

A Deliberate Policy of Psychological Torture

The Center denounces these policies as deliberately designed to oppress and psychologically torture individuals of African descent. The indiscriminate use of GPS monitoring by ICE, which has expanded from approximately 17,000 individuals to nearly 54,000 under the current administration, represents a systematic campaign of dehumanization. This policy has been imposed without individualized justification, affecting working families, pregnant women, and students like Pierre.

Pastor Carl Ruby, a community advocate, stated: "Pierre died as a result of policy. It's our immigration policy that took his life." The Center echoes this sentiment and calls for an immediate end to these practices.

The Pan-African Community Stands United

The Center invokes the historical declaration of the Organization of African Unity, which condemned "discriminatory practices against Black citizens" and affirmed the solidarity of the African continent with its diaspora. As articulated by Pan-African leaders, the African diaspora is an "integral part of its motherland." The persecution of Haitians in the United States is a persecution of all people of African descent worldwide.

As the 8th Pan-African Congress affirmed, the global African family is bound by a "non-negotiable principle of zero tolerance of any manifestation of anti-Black or anti-African racism or discrimination". The targeting of Haitian immigrants through policies such as the termination of TPS and mandatory GPS monitoring is a direct assault on this principle.

The United States Must Be Held Accountable

The Center demands that the U.S. government be held fully accountable for policies that lead to psychological trauma, family separation, and death. The parallels between this treatment and historical systems of control and surveillance of Black bodies are undeniable. ICE's Alternatives to Detention program, which was intended to reduce detention, has been "transformed into a harmful surveillance system" that effectively functions as an "alternative form of detention". This system disproportionately impacts Haitians, with advocates noting that Brazilian clients did not receive ankle monitors while their Haitian counterparts were forced to wear them.

A Call to the World: Rise Up

The Center issues a global call to action:

• To the African Union and African governments: We call on you to uphold the historic resolution of the OAU and offer refuge, home, and citizenship to members of the diaspora who choose to return, in the name of Pan-African solidarity.
• To the international community: We call on all nations to condemn these human rights violations and impose sanctions on the United States for its discriminatory practices against Black immigrants.
• To people of conscience everywhere: We call on you to organize protests, boycott U.S. goods, and use every platform available to demand justice for Pierre Damas Bel and the thousands of others subjected to this oppression.

As the global Pan-African community stated in response to the murder of George Floyd, "We demand that African governments recognize our alliance and our ties with our brothers and sisters across borders, from America to Brazil and across the rest of the diaspora". Today, we renew that demand not only for recognition, but for action.

The Center stands with the Haitian community in Springfield, with the families torn apart by deportation, and with every individual of African descent who has been dehumanized by these policies. We will not remain silent.

Enough is enough.