One of President Donald Trump's supporters found himself caught in the middle of a horrific immigration case last week, one that has him questioning his support for the president, according to a new report.
Jack Buhring, a truck driver, was hauling along his normal route on August 31 when his truck struck and killed a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant named Pierre Damas Bel, who had jumped out in front of him near Springfield, Ohio, The Atlantic reported. Bel had been granted Temporary Protected Status to stay in the country because of instability in his home nation. However, Bel was one of thousands of legal immigrants who lost their immigration status when the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Haitians.
“I feel really bad for the family,” Buhring, who voted for Trump for the first time in 2024, told the outlet. “I just don’t want to take the chance for the safety of my family. I mean, he jumped out in front of me. But I still killed their son.”
"I feel guilty," he added.
Dealing with the incident has been a challenge for Buhring, according to the report. Buhring told The Atlantic that Bel made eye contact with him before Buhring's truck killed him. Buhring has also tried to find as much information about Bel as possible since the event, and has continued to reach out to a first responder who helped Buhring get out of his truck after the incident occurred.
“I felt a big thump, and I knew it was him,” he told The Atlantic. “I could feel it all.”
The incident also has Buhring rethinking his support for Trump. He described the administration as a "joke," even though he does not see Democrats in any more favorable light.
Bel's death set off a firestorm in Ohio, The Atlantic reported.
"When I visited in early September, much of the Haitian community was in hiding," the report reads in part. "Families were getting food delivered to their homes, attending church services online. Haitian activists told me that some people had spoken of suicide as an alternative to deportation. At the vigils for Pierre, the people who showed up included his high-school teachers, his soccer coaches and teammates, waiters from Texas Roadhouse, and others who described themselves as neighbors, including a man who told a crowd one night that Pierre’s death was 'a failing of broader policy, but I will always bear the guilt that there is more that I could have done and we could have done.'”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration attorney, described the report as "searing."
"I feel very sorry for Mr. Buhring, who became an unintentional victim of Trump's hate campaign against the Haitians in Springfield," he wrote on X. "The tragedy of what Trump is doing to the Haitians who had safety here keeps growing (sic) worse."