A Haitian truck driver who had his Biden-approved parole terminated a year ago now faces multiple charges for striking and killing a Pennsylvania state trooper on the interstate.
The driver, Michael Bon, a 33-yer-old Haitian national, has been charged with vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving and six additional lesser charges.
State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr. died in the line of duty last week after Bon’s 18-wheeler ran off the road and smashed into Pahira’s patrol car and another semi-truck he had pulled over for an inspection.
Pahira, a nearly 20-year veteran, was seriously injured after being struck while standing near the stopped semi-truck. He was taken to a local hospital but pronounced deceased.
Bon, who was living in Brockton, Mass., held an active non-domiciled commercial driver’s license despite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminating his parole in June 2025.
Instead, he kept driving and even had his CDL renewed by the state of Massachusetts earlier this year.
Bon is one of the thousands of illegal truck drivers Trump’s U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to get off the nation’s highways. To make matters worse, Bon was among the migrants flown into the country under the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program.
“This Haitian illegal alien was RELEASED into our country by the Biden Administration, and the sanctuary state of Massachusetts gave him a Commercial Driver’s License,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said.
Bon entered the country through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July 2024, Fox News Digital reported.
He filed an application for Temporary Protected Status in October 2024, and it was never granted. Bon refused to leave the country after his parole was terminated last June, DHS officials said in a post on social media.
This Haitian illegal alien truck driver, who was given a CDL by Massachusetts, STRUCK AND KILLED a Pennsylvania State Trooper.
The illegal alien, Michael Bon, veered into the right-hand shoulder and struck Trooper Michael Pahira as Pahira was conducting a routine commercial… https://t.co/UjqNyFnFuG pic.twitter.com/0GPX46fIHU
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 6, 2026
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since lodged an immigration detainer against him.
“Now, because of these reckless policies, a Pennsylvania State Trooper is dead after a crash that was 100% preventable,” Bis said. “Illegal aliens should not be driving trucks on America’s highways. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and the Pennsylvania State Police as they mourn this loss.”
The crash occurred around 7 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, as trooper Pahira, 44, was conducting a commercial vehicle inspection along Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
The semi-truck driven by Bon reportedly left the roadway, struck Pahira’s marked patrol vehicle and the truck he was inspecting before hitting the trooper, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
“Trooper Pahira was outside his vehicle, standing in the vicinity of the cab of the CMV, actively engaged in the inspection,” the report states. “Trooper Pahira’s marked patrol unit had its emergency lighting activated and was positioned directly behind the CMV.”
According to local reports and the criminal complaint, construction workers nearby saw smoke coming from the crash and ran to help Pahira, who was pinned under the tractor-trailer.
Pahira had recently moved home to help care for his mother during her cancer treatment, officials said. Trooper Pahira enlisted in the PSP in January of 2007 and was assigned to Troop L, Frackville, as a motor carrier inspector.
“The man died a hero,” Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens said during a press conference. “He was an outstanding trooper, an excellent motor carrier enforcement officer. He’d been doing it for a number of years and was considered to be one of our best.”
During a news conference, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called Pahira “the very best of us,” describing a wrestler-turned-trooper who loved to cook and helped his mother through her darkest weeks of chemotherapy, PJ Media reported.
Both semi-trucks caught on fire as a result of the crash. The driver of the stopped semi-truck was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Bon was not injured and is being held at Schuylkill County Prison on $700,000 bail. His next court date is scheduled for July 15, Fox News Digital reported.
The crash once again puts the spotlight on foreign-born truckers involved in fatal wrecks across the country. In many crash investigations, the illegal immigrant truckers have reportedly failed to stop and slammed into stopped or slowed vehicles from behind.
In other cases, they have ignored traffic laws and road signs and failed English language proficiency tests.
The series of high-profile crashes, which aren’t letting up, prompted the DOT to tighten commercial driver’s license rules. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration finalized a rule, effective on March 16, limiting non‑domiciled CDLs to drivers holding H‑2A, H‑2B, or E‑2 visas.
The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles issued Bon a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license in March 2025. According to the agency, he obtained the license while he was authorized to work under federal law,
The state renewed the license in February 2026, Fox News Digital reported. That’s a month before the FMCSA implemented new rules for foreigners who could obtain a non-domiciled CDL.
However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had directed states to stop issuing or renewing non-domiciled CDLs for drivers who no longer met federal eligibility requirements in the months prior to the rule change.
“These senseless tragedies are why I am working my heart out to change the policies that encouraged illegal drivers, enabled shady trucker schools, and drove down the wages for American truckers,” Duffy shared on social media after news of Pahira’s death.
The crackdown on foreign-born drivers with CDL followed a nationwide audit by the FMCSA that found systemic failures across multiple states involving the issuance of commercial licenses to illegal immigrants.
Federal reviews in New York, California and Illinois determined that thousands of CDLs were issued to foreign drivers without lawful presence verification or the license had an expiration date beyond the driver’s legal right to be in the United States.
