A debate on CNN's "NewsNight" became heated when podcast host Leigh McGowan described discussions of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants as "exhausting." The exchange followed a report on the death of Pierre Damas Bel, a Haitian-born college student in Ohio who died after being required to wear an ankle monitor.

During the panel discussion, The Federalist reporter Brianna Lyman brought up the case of Brianna Connolly, a Massachusetts woman allegedly strangled to death by an undocumented immigrant. "I think it's kind of insulting that we're talking about this immigrant instead of Brianna Connolly from Massachusetts who was strangled last week by an illegal alien," Lyman stated. "Why is the focus never…"

McGowan interrupted Lyman, exclaiming, "Oh my God! It’s so exhausting. Over and over again."

Lyman responded by contrasting McGowan's reaction with the grief of victims' families. "It’s exhausting for you because your daughter wasn't the one strangled," Lyman said. "But it’s not exhausting for the parents of Americans who watch their children get murdered by illegal aliens."

Lyman later stated that the political left becomes more agitated when undocumented immigrant crime is discussed than by the crimes themselves. "Leftists are objectively pro-crime, which is why Democrat-run cities are all riddled with crime," she said. "It's the same reason why illegal alien crime doesn't anger them but Americans mentioning it does. There is something deeply sick about a political movement that treats murdered Americans as an inconvenience."

Maria Espinoza, national spokesperson for The Remembrance Project, condemned McGowan's remarks, calling them a display of a lack of compassion for families mourning loved ones killed by undocumented immigrants. "Ms. McGowan clearly has no compassion or a place in her heart for the pain — her own fellow citizens' pain and suffering — when their child/loved one is murdered by an illegal alien," Espinoza said. "Every murder was 100% preventable. One has to question the inner makings of those who express 'exhaustion' from a mother's living nightmare of burying their precious child."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified Flavio Alcantra Dias, 43, as a Brazilian national accused in the strangling death of Connolly, 33. According to DHS, Dias entered the U.S. illegally in April 2019 and had previously been arrested for DUI and aggravated assault. An immigration judge terminated his immigration proceedings in October 2024 based on a technicality, DHS reported.

The incident occurred as the Trump administration was working to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants. The Supreme Court had allowed the administration to end these protections while related litigation proceeds in federal court.