Brianna Lyman, a reporter for the conservative outlet The Federalist, drew audible shock from a CNN panel Tuesday night when she suggested that a 20-year-old Haitian college student who died by suicide had endangered American drivers in the act of taking his own life.
The remark came during “NewsNight with Abby Phillip” as the panel discussed the death of Pierre Damas Bel, the Springfield, Ohio, student whose family says he walked into traffic on Interstate 70 on Monday morning after struggling with the humiliation of an ICE-mandated ankle monitor.
Lyman was disputing any link between Bel’s death and his immigration ordeal when she added, according to a clip of the broadcast and reporting by The Independent: “And also he walked into traffic. Do you know the accident he could have caused for Americans driving?”
The table erupted. “So you’re blaming the dude that’s not here?” fellow panelist Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, responded incredulously, as reported by Yahoo News.
Phillip tried to steer the conversation back to the young man at its center, stressing that Bel’s family believes the humiliation he experienced contributed to his death, and noting that he was only 20. “Let’s have a little humanity in the situation writ large,” the host said, according to Mediaite. Lyman replied that the administration had shown humanity: “We’ve offered them money to self-voluntarily deport.”
Bel, a soccer player who graduated from Springfield High School as an honors student and had hoped to attend medical school, died Monday, according to the Springfield News-Sun, LSV Media, and multiple outlets.
His family says he died by suicide.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has said he left his vehicle and walked into westbound traffic on I-70, where he was struck by a tractor-trailer, and that its investigation remains open.
His death came weeks after the Supreme Court’s June ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
After losing that status, Bel was placed in an alternatives-to-detention program and fitted with an ankle monitor in late July while his immigration case continued. In a family statement reported by the Springfield News-Sun, relatives said he was bullied and called a “criminal” by fellow students at Wright State University over the device, which had also kept him from playing soccer. The university has said it has no confirmed information about complaints or investigations into bullying.
During the CNN segment, Lyman questioned the family’s account, saying there was “no proof” that Bel’s suicide was tied to the monitor and, according to Mediaite, adding, “‘believes ‘ is not the same as confirmation.” She also argued that “temporary does mean temporary,” suggesting Bel might eventually have been ordered removed regardless.
Earlier in the same segment, Lyman had pivoted from Bel’s death to the recent killing of a Massachusetts woman, Brianna Connolly, whom she described as having been strangled by a person in the country without legal status.
When progressive commentator Leigh McGowan called the repeated invocation of such cases “exhausting,” Lyman shot back, “It’s exhausting for you because your daughter wasn’t the one strangled,” according to Fox News.
The exchange, which quickly spread online, crystallized a debate playing out well beyond the studio: how the human toll of the immigration crackdown is weighed and spoken about, and by whom.
https://ctninfo.com/maga-pundit-bria…ngered-americans/
Source: The Independent
This article was originally written in English. Other language versions are produced using AI translation software, and errors are possible — the English version is authoritative. CTN also uses AI to convert text into audio.
