A little background: back on September 1, this editor published a VIP post about an ABC News story about a 20-year-old high school graduate (process that) from Haiti who allegedly killed himself because temporary protected status wasn't extended for the first time since 2010. Pierre Damas Bel got out of his vehicle on an interstate in Springfield, Ohio, and walked into traffic, law enforcement officials told local news outlets. "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" — even though he'd just arrived from Haiti in 2024 to reunite with his parents. "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. As this editor had reported the night before, Ruby's Haitian advocacy group had decided it was going to refer to ankle monitors as "shackles," because they "belong to a longer history of 'anti-black containment.'"
The Bulwark's Andrew Egger attended Bel's funeral this weekend, which was just down the block from a rally by President Donald Trump.
This weekend, I went to Springfield, Ohio, for Pierre Damas Bel's funeral--and to next-door Vandalia for Trump's same-day rally, where the president took a victory lap on the policies that killed him. I hope you'll give it a read. https://t.co/Nt0zwT1Hzj
— Andrew Egger (@EggerDC) October 5, 2026
@EggerDC I totally won't.
— Larry LaBate (@xmethuselahx) October 5, 2026
Let's look instead at The Atlantic, which published a massive, 4,000-word piece in which it tracked down the truck driver who struck and killed Bel.
Heartbreak in Springfield, Ohio. Please read this important reporting. It all begins with big lies and it ends with ethnic cleansing and deaths for which we must not only mourn but feel ashamed. https://t.co/D0AiH8EP8P
— Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) October 4, 2026
"A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become," writes Stephanie McCrummen.
By the next day, he’d heard that Bel’s father, Ronal Bel, who declined to be interviewed for this story, had put out a statement saying that “after my son was outfitted with this ankle monitor, he felt like he was treated like an animal.” Ronal wrote that his son had told him that classmates had bullied him because of the ankle monitor and that he felt “humiliated,” and that he’d called moments before his death to tell his father that he was not “feeling okay.” Jack heard that politicians and activists, including a Springfield pastor named Carl Ruby, were blaming the Trump administration for what happened. “It’s our immigration policy that took his life,” Ruby had told reporters.
Jack [Buhring] thought about that. He was a lifelong Democrat who had voted for Trump for the first time in 2024, reasoning that things weren’t getting better, so why not try something different. He’d supported what Trump had said about deporting undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes, but none of what he was learning now sounded like that.
…
He said he knew there was more because of how the state troopers had described what happened in their preliminary report. It said that Pierre had “walked” into traffic, whereas Jack had told them that “he ran at me like a damn football player.” He kept replaying the moment.
“I didn’t see him until the last minute—when I got up to him, it was just timed perfectly,” he said. “That’s what I’m saying. That’s what don’t make any sense.”
You’ll never see this kind of reporting from the Atlantic about an American citizen brutally killed by an immigrant. And that’s the tell. Agenda. Narrative.
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder “Ethnic cleansing” thank you for reminding everyone that you’re unserious 🤡
— Todd (@toddmcaleer) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder @CathyYoung63 Ethnic cleansing? You've got to be kidding me. What absurd nonsense.
— Gene Harrogate (@MrGeneHarrogate) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder Your town will be transformed in to a 3rd world shithole. When you complain, leftists will accuse you of supporting ethnic cleansing. Most will be doing so while living in communities far removed from the hell imposed upon you.
— Greenbrier (@greenbrier_n) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder Ethnic cleansing? Haitians were never more than guests here. Guests return home. It’s what they do.
— Alvin (@AlvinPacino) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder You certainly hit all if the talking points. No, that's not a compliment.
— metalhed64 (@vandenavon15003) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder This is a blatant attempt to manipulate people into supporting your failed political ideology. You don’t care about suffering of anyone except when it a useful tool for your malicious agenda.
— Littlelarrysellers (@Littlelarr33343) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder If making foreigners here illegally leave is “ethnic cleansing,” then so was bringing them here in the first place.
— John BA (@JohnBa99837) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder I think the number of Americans killed by immigrants is a lot more than vise versa. Even some white guilt piece about a Haitian that jumped in front of a semi and how the white guy in the semi is heartbroken. I want to deport Tim after reading that
— Hans Gruber (@HansGruber4604) October 5, 2026
@TimothyDSnyder This is complete bullshit because Conan O'Brien said Haiti is awesome and he is a celebrity so he must be right.
— A (@AAMCMLXXVII) October 5, 2026
"Ethnic cleansing." President Barack Obama granted Haitians temporary protected status in 2010 for a period of 18 months. Blame every administration that extended that status for 16 years and led Haitians to believe they weren't going back.
The story does make us feel bad for the trucker, who now has to live with the trauma of having hit and killed someone who ran out in front of him. Liberals think he should feel bad, having voted for Trump in 2024 and causing all of this.
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