I read with great interest yesterday Just Mindy's post about a TikTok video of a birthday party for some young girl was going around and asking everyone what prescriptions they were on. Most were on two to six different prescription medications. "Crazy to consider until the last decade or so, most people were not on any psychiatric medications," she wrote. I read the 70 or more comments, and most people were incredulous and said these girls needed church, not psychiatric drugs.
Someone in the comments mentioned that sadness is not depression, and I gave that a thumbs up.
So when I hear about a suicide, my first thought is that that person suffered from depression. The way ABC News words its headline, they make it sound as though a 20-year-old high school graduate (process that) from Haiti killed himself because Temporary Protected Status wasn't extended for the first time since 2010.
A 20-year-old Haitian who had just graduated high school and had recently lost temporary protected status died by suicide Monday, according to an advocacy group representing his family. https://t.co/juhrEKLh14 pic.twitter.com/rAl5Jyjqf4
— ABC News (@ABC) September 1, 2026
Watch that wording that I always tell you to look out for in reporting; be skeptical anytime a headline appends "family members say," "the family's attorney says," or, in this case, "according to an advocacy group representing his family." I just wrote a piece last night about a Haitian advocacy group that had decided it was going to refer to ankle monitors as "shackles," because they "belong to a longer history of 'anti-black containment,' restricting movement, separating families, and treating people 'as problems to be patrolled instead of partners deserving protection.'" So, The Bulwark was reporting about a woman who had lost a baby who had been put in "shackles."
Haiti, which was once great already and a beautiful country, is now "hell," according to Geraldo Rivera. Any follow-up, Conan?
Let's hear what ABC News has to say. Laura Romero reports:
A 20-year-old Haitian who had just graduated high school and had recently lost temporary protected status died by suicide Monday, according to an advocacy group representing his family.
Pierre Damas Bel, who arrived in the U.S. in 2024 to reunite with his parents who had fled Haiti, got out of his vehicle on an interstate in Springfield, Ohio, and walked into traffic, law enforcement officials told local news outlets.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol told ABC News it is investigating Bel's death. In a statement, the agency confirmed that Bel parked on Interstate 70, exited his Toyota and entered the westbound lanes of the highway.
…
Guerline Jozef, the executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides aid to Haitian immigrants, told ABC News that Bel was afraid of being deported to Haiti. The group said it was supporting the family before Bel's death.
"This is our worst fear and nightmare come true," said Jozef, who told ABC News Bel was depressed after losing his TPS status.
"Our government, our system, our Supreme Court -- they're all complicit in the death of this young man," Jozef said.
No, they're not.
"During a press conference Tuesday, Pastor Carl Ruby read a statement on behalf of Bel's father in which the elder Bel said, 'After my son was outfitted with the ankle monitor, he felt like he was treated like an animal,'" ABC News reported.
That name rang a bell, and lo and behold, Pastor Carl Ruby was the same guy Jim Swift from The Bulwark talked to for his story about "shackles." "Advocacy group."
My brother killed himself but nobody cares because he's white.
— rednism0 (@rednism0) September 1, 2026
Oh damn, guess we can't have a country now.
— Tulsa's Last Magician (@literally20665) September 1, 2026
Never mind white men are killing themselves in record numbers.
Western civilization will only survive if you can ignore the tears of foreigners and women.
— Edgar Friendly (@Edgar_Friendly3) September 1, 2026
As much of a tragedy this is, this isn’t the fault of Americans wishing to defend their borders and create demographic security
Tragic.
— The Internet Rose (@theinternetrose) September 1, 2026
Suicide is the #2 cause of death for this age group. We need more awareness and mental health services for this and all ages.https://t.co/3cVOOHGb0P
Suicide is tragic--truly.
— TheBillJustice (@TheBillJustice1) September 1, 2026
Such tragedy is framed here as an implied argument against enforcing our immigration laws.
Such exploitation of tragedy for political gain is downright gross.
Sounds like he was already mentally unstable....
— Jim Eagle (@p0peyelang) September 1, 2026
Washington Post is reporting he was run over. You sure it was suicide?
— Destroy Globoschlomo (@krapity) September 1, 2026
So there was a note that said that?
— Nextdoor Girl (@jeaniefacts) September 1, 2026
Post for proof because your opinion is worthless!
ABC News doesn't report that there was a suicide note. They do go into great detail on how he played soccer and had plans to attend college in the fall.
This guy's death is tragic. It really is. But I don't see how it means that Temporary Protected Status had to be renewed — again. Haitians were granted TPS for 18 months by President Barack Obama in 2010. This "kid" just arrived here in 2024.
It's the same sort of emotional manipulation the trans rights crowd uses when they say minors will almost certainly commit suicide unless you provide them "gender-affirming care." I'm not falling for that anymore, and stories like this one aren't softening my views on immigration.
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