A PBS Frontline documentary on the experiences of Haitians in Springfield will debut Tuesday, and a local filmmaker helped shoot it.
Academy Award-winning documentarian and cinematographer Steve Bognar of Yellow Springs worked on the film "Haiti Deportation Crisis" this summer, including as ICE agents apprehended Haitian immigrants. He captured behind the scenes images of these individuals adjusting to a new level of uncertainty.
On Tuesday Oct. 20, 2026, the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs will show the hour-long Frontline documentary at 7pm., followed by a panel discussion with some of the filmmakers and community members. Then at 10 p.m., the film will air nationally on PBS.
The documentary focuses on the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to deport thousands of Haitian immigrants from the U.S. They legally entered the country under Temporary Protected Status, but that program ended this past summer.
Bognar spoke with WYSO reporter Kathryn Mobley. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2019, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited him to join. Bognar has been making documentary films for 35 years.
Steve Bognar: The Frontline team and I were lucky to be trusted to be permitted in these spaces. I filmed a Haitian man who has an ankle monitor on and is still going to work and he's trying to be a good dad to his toddler daughter, who's like 3, and she asks him, 'What is that on your on your leg?' and it's this big, bulky ankle monitor and he says, 'Oh, it's a toy. It's just a toy.' That's the coping mechanism, that's the courage and the resilience that I feel like I've seen again and again. But this individual could be deported and his daughter could be left behind, and it could be terrible for them.
WYSO Kathryn Mobley: Such an act of love for a father to give his child that kind of reaction so he doesn't spark fear or anxiety in his child.
Cinematographer Bognar: One of the powers of documentary is to put us inside rooms that we normally can't get into, we wouldn't be in. I was ... filming at the Haitian Support Center when news broke of the suicide of Pierre Damas Bel. I was lucky to be honored and trusted to be filming at Central Christian the day the Supreme Court ruling came out, ending TPS. And these are moments when people's lives are literally changing and to be there with a camera and trying to bear witness to these hard moments, historic moments, and be a responsible journalist and be thoughtful as a human being, it's a very important space to try to do right in.
WYSO Mobley: Steve, were you able to shoot any interviews of ICE agents or DHS officials who were in Springfield?
Cinematographer Bognar: I did film an ICE raid that was in progress just by luck. Me and a few other journalists had been following ICE vehicles. They went right to an apartment complex where they were pounding on the door of a Haitian person. They were waiting outside the apartment and then they eventually started pounding on the door, and they also stationed agents at other doors and inside of windows in case the person inside was going to try to run — that's my perception. And they pounded on the doors for a while and that person never opened the door. And they did not have a warrant, and they did follow the law and did not break down the door. They actually left.
WYSO Mobley: Did ICE officers ever respond or react to your cameras?
Cinematographer Bognar: They told us to stay away. At one point, either ICE agents or sheriff's officers, when we first were arriving, were waving us off from, I want to say, about 60 yards away. Now, journalists have a legal right to be, I believe, within 15, 20 feet of something, as long as we respect a certain perimeter.
WYSO Mobley: What do you hope individuals who view this film will appreciate or understand?
Cinematographer Bognar: These are just folks trying to live their lives and contribute to society, and they have been cast as criminals and as people who are worthy of being sent to a very dangerous place. Haiti is a very dangerous place right now, and it's morally, ethically not right to send people back there, especially women and children. And having had meals, sitting down and talking and eating with Haitian friends who I've now met and Haitian folks with whom I've been filming, we all want the same thing. We want to have a job that we can do and a way to support our family and our kids. These are universal things.
WYSO Mobley: Steve Bognar, a cinematographer who worked on the Frontline project, "Haitian Deportation Crisis," a new documentary that is coming out this week. Thank you so much, Steve, for talking with us.
Cinematographer Bognar: Thank you, Kathryn, and thank you for all your coverage of the story as well.
