Like an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants, Bel had recently lost temporary protected status, which is given to people fleeing nations experiencing disaster. He had a pending asylum claim but had been summoned to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with canceling the status for Haitian recipients. Federal immigration agents placed an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, which is one way the agency tracks immigrants it is seeking to remove from the country.

“He felt like he was treated like an animal,” his father, Pierres Ronal Bel, 40, recounted in a handwritten statement.

Pierre Damas Bel receives his high school diploma. (Family photo/Instagram)