CNN Panel Goes Off the Rails Over MAGA Pundit’s Grim Take on Haitian Student’s Death: ‘Do You Hear Your Voice?’
A CNN panel discussion erupted into a bitter clash on Tuesday night after a MAGA pundit questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of a 20-year-old Haitian college student and suggested that he had endangered Americans in what his family alleged was a suicide.
The fiery exchange on CNN NewsNight came as host Abby Phillip discussed a Washington Post report about the student, Pierre Damas Bel, whose Temporary Protected Status had suddenly ended, forcing him to wear an ankle monitor.
Phillip said the student’s family believes he died by suicide after struggling with the “humiliation” of wearing the monitor, which prevented the soccer player from competing.
The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman pushed back, arguing that “temporary does mean temporary” before pivoting to the recent killing of a Massachusetts woman allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.
Progressive pundit Leigh McGowan groaned: “Oh my God, this is so exhausting.”
“It’s exhausting for you because your daughter wasn’t the one strangled,” Lyman shot back.
The table soon descended into crosstalk, with The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill telling Lyman: “There’s a lot of Americans who get murdered by other Americans, and y’all never carry that same energy, ever.”
Lyman then challenged the suggestion that Bel’s immigration ordeal caused his death, arguing there was “no proof that this suicide was because of his ankle monitor.”
“And also he walked into traffic. Do you know the accident he could have caused for Americans driving?” she said.
“So you’re blaming the dude that’s not here?!” Hill responded, as the table erupted.
Phillip stressed that the student’s family believes his treatment contributed to his death and described him as a 20-year-old facing humiliation.
“It’s not humiliation; we have a right to enforce our laws,” Lyman replied, prompting another eruption around the table.
Hill argued that wearing an ankle monitor would plainly be humiliating for a young person, but Lyman responded: “He could have voluntarily left.”
After Phillip again clarified the family’s account, Lyman interrupted: “OK, ‘believes’ – it’s not the same as confirmation.”
“Do you hear your voice?” McGowan asked.
“There’s no suicide note,” Lyman said.
“Do you hear your voice? You sound like an automaton. This is a person’s life,” McGowan fired back.
“You should smile more,” Lyman jabbed in a possible homage to President Donald Trump’s heated confrontation with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in February. “You’re very angry.”
Phillip eventually intervened, arguing that crimes committed by undocumented immigrants were “horrible tragedies” but did not justify treating other immigrants as “culpable.”
“Every person should be treated individually, not as a group, as if they are all culpable for everything that somebody else in their group has done,” she said.
“Well, they’re all culpable for being here illegally. If they’re here illegally,” Lyman replied, holding to her argument.
“He was here legally,” Hill noted.
“Yes. And then his temporary status got revoked, so now he was no longer allowed to be in the country,” Lyman returned.
“So you expect a kid to be able to come up with the means to just automatically deport and get out of the country?” Hill pressed.
“We are offering thousands of dollars to people to self-deport, they do need to come up with the means,” her MAGA counterpart snapped.
“All right,” Phillip interrupted. “We’re going to leave that conversation there.”
Watch above via CNN.
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