Enforce immigration laws without losing our humanity

There are moments when politics needs to stop. The death of 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel is one of them.

Bel was a Haitian immigrant, a Springfield High School graduate, JROTC student, soccer player and new student at Wright State University.

He was beginning his adult life and he is now dead.

Authorities are investigating his death as a suicide after he walked into traffic in Clark County. His family says he had been struggling with the emotional toll and humiliation of wearing an ankle monitor placed on him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

It would be irresponsible to say an ankle monitor alone caused Bel's death. Suicide is complicated, and there can be many contributing factors.

However, it would be equally irresponsible to ignore what Bel said about his circumstances. He had come to America. He was going to college. He wanted to play soccer. He participated in JROTC. And he was wearing an electronic monitor on his ankle.

According to his family, Bel traveled to Cincinnati and Westerville seeking to have the monitor removed because he was embarrassed by it. His father also said the device prevented him from receiving a JROTC uniform.

Imagine being 20 years old and trying to build a future while wearing a device that publicly identifies you as someone under immigration supervision.

This is where conservatives should be willing to have an uncomfortable conversation.

America has a right to enforce its immigration laws. Borders matter. Sovereignty matters. The rule of law matters.

If someone violates immigration law, there must be a process for resolving that status. A nation that refuses to enforce its laws eventually loses the ability to govern itself.

Though enforcement doesn't require us to abandon compassion. In fact, conservatives should understand this better than most.

We believe government should be limited, accountable and responsible. That means government should use the least intrusive means necessary to accomplish legitimate objectives.

So let's ask some basic questions.

Was an ankle monitor necessary in Bel's case? Was there a less intrusive way to ensure he appeared for immigration proceedings? Why was a young man involved in JROTC apparently unable to receive a uniform because of the device? And did anyone recognize how much emotional pressure he was experiencing?

Those aren't anti-ICE questions. They're accountability questions.

Our immigration debate has become far too simplistic.

One side argues that immigration enforcement itself is cruel. The other sometimes talks about immigrants as though they are nothing more than case numbers.

Both approaches miss the human being standing in the middle. Whatever the final determination of his immigration case might have been, that future is gone.

There is another lesson here that has nothing to do with immigration.

If Bel was mocked or bullied because he was wearing an ankle monitor, those responsible should be ashamed.

We tell young people that bullying can have devastating consequences. That principle shouldn't change because the person being bullied happens to have an immigration case.

You don't have to agree with someone's legal status to treat him with dignity. Conservatives shouldn't be afraid to say that.

We can secure the border, enforce immigration laws, deport people who have no legal right to remain here and we can demand those laws be enforced with judgment, proportionality and humanity.

Those principles aren't contradictory. The strength of the rule of law isn't simply that it is strong. It is that it is fair.

Bel's death should prompt more than another round of partisan finger-pointing.

It should prompt questions about how our immigration system works and whether we are using the right tools in the right circumstances.

It should prompt accountability and it should remind us that behind every immigration case is a human being.

America doesn't have to choose between secure borders and compassion. We should demand both.

Rob Scott is the Kettering Clerk of Court, an attorney and a small-business owner. Contact him at rob@robscott.us.