A MAGA pundit appeared to blame a Haitian immigrant for endangering the lives of Americans on the road when he reportedly took his own life by walking into traffic. The family of Pierre Damas Bel says the 20-year-old college student died by suicide when he walked into traffic on Interstate 70 in Springfield, Ohio, Monday morning. His death follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that allowed the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
Bel, a college soccer player, was “bullied” and called a “criminal” by students at Wright State over a requirement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he wear an ankle monitor, according to a family statement, the Springfield News-Sun reports. The report prompted a heated debate during CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Tuesday, whose guests included conservative reporter Brianna Lyman, progressive pundit Leigh McGowan, and The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill. As the guests bickered and spoke over one another, Lyman, a reporter for the conservative publication The Federalist, appeared to suggest that Bel had risked the lives of American drivers when he walked into traffic, bringing the conversation to a stunned pause.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said that Bel was killed after being hit by a tractor-trailer after exiting his vehicle and walking into westbound traffic. The investigation into his death is ongoing. Lyman then claimed there was “no proof” that Bel took his own life “because of his ankle monitor.” Phillip attempted to rein the pundits in and stressed to Lyman, “What I said was that his family believes that the humiliation that he experienced.
He's 20 years old.” “Let's have a little humanity in the situation writ large, right?” Phillip added. Bel’s death has prompted outcry over the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the decision to end temporary protected status for approximately 350,000 Haitians permitted to live and work in the U.S. People are being sent back to a country ravaged by violence and in the midst of a severe political and humanitarian crisis.
The Department of Homeland Security has pushed back against that claim. On July 29, 2026, ICE placed him on alternatives to detention program with an ankle monitor while he continued in his immigration proceedings,” the spokesperson said, adding that “no one is required to stay in the United States illegally,” and can self-deport. The student had been in the U.S. since 2024 to join his parents who had left Haiti three years prior, according to the Post.
He reportedly entered the country through the CBP One app established by the Biden administration. Bel’s family was granted temporary protected status and they settled into their new life in Springfield. Bel reportedly had a pending asylum claim but was ordered to go to an ICE office after the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration to cancel temporary protected status for Haiti.
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