Notable Quotable: Pierre Damas Bel on Being Shamed

Wright State University student, Pierre Damas Bel, was coming up in the world. High school was behind him. There, he garnered attention for his prodigious skill on the soccer team and his service in the junior ROTC.

His dreams focused on what he would contribute to our country. At university, his plan was to study neuroscience. But the threat of deportation killed that hope when ICE officers came around and fitted him with an ankle monitor.

Then, fellow students taunted him.

On July 30, Bel took to Instagram to express his shame and dismay. He posted 20 photographs highlighting his awards, diploma, his soccer team, and the electronic monitor around his ankle.

“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. I came here to study, to build my future and to live a better life, not to be treated like a criminal. So now, how am I supposed to play college sports with a GPS monitor on my leg?”

One week ago today, Pierre Damas Bel, parked his 2006 Toyota Avalon on the right shoulder of Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio. He got out of his car and walked into the westbound lanes. He was struck by a 2001 Kenworth tractor-trailer tanker and pronounced dead at the scene.

Bel had every right to be dismayed. The administration claimed its deportation policy would only affect criminals, "the worst of the worst." This promise has proven to be a cruel lie, a lure, and a disgrace to a nation and administration that touts its Christian values. The shame belongs to all of us for allowing ICE raids to continue, taking innocents with it.

May Pierre Damas Bel be remembered as the ideal immigrant, a determined young man who courageously came to America and worked hard to realize the promise of the American dream. 

May he rest in peace.