Look: All These 1st Reports on ICE Arrest Hid That Husband Was Wanted for Murder
It was one of those stories that reporters in newsrooms across the country could pass off as an example of “Trump’s America” — a man busted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he drove his pregnant wife to the hospital so she could give birth.
How could they have been so callous, I’m sure everyone was wondering? What’s the matter with them? Why would they do such a thing?
You probably saw some permutation of the story on social media or the news. Check out ABC’s shocking footage of the encounter. (And by shocking, please read whatever word you find to be the diametrical opposite of shocking):
Surveillance footage shows ICE agents detaining a man in California stopped at a gas station who was bringing his pregnant wife to the hospital for the delivery of their baby. https://t.co/NrzXyHktdH pic.twitter.com/kesN7U37aW
— ABC News (@ABC) August 18, 2018
Horrifying! Is this what we’ve come to? I mean, surely he didn’t do anything too bad, right? If there was a reason for this arrest, surely they would have mentioned it in the tweet, right?
Well, let’s look at the story itself. Maybe that’ll give us some idea of why they decided to take such drastic action.
“A man driving his pregnant wife to a hospital for delivery of their baby was detained and taken into custody by immigration agents, according to the couple’s lawyer and a news report,” ABC’s story read.
“Joel Arrona-Lara, 36, was taken into custody when he and his wife stopped at a gas station Wednesday in San Bernardino, California, his wife, Maria del Carmen Venegas, told Univision in Spanish. They had been on the way to the hospital for a scheduled C-section.”
That sounds utterly inexcusable. Surely there’s no reasonable excuse to stop this poor man on the way to the hospital as his wife was about to give birth. Let’s read on a bit just to see if maybe we can glean some clue as to why they decided to do this.
“ICE said in an initial statement Saturday that Arrona-Lara is an undocumented immigrant now in custody pending removal proceedings. Later, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency issued an updated statement saying he is wanted in Mexico on HOMICIDE CHARGES.
“‘Mr. Arrona-Lara was brought to ICE’s attention due to an outstanding warrant issued for his arrest in Mexico on homicide charges,’ the agency statement said.” (Emphasis and scarcely-contained outrage all mine.)
Oh, well, he’s a suspected murderer? That’s not important or anything and didn’t need to be mentioned — are you kidding me?
Well, that’s just one source. Maybe that lede-burying was an aberration. After all, these were the people who gave George Stephanopoulos a job. Maybe other outlets were more fair.
This is a great example of why the media has lost credibility. What possible justification can there be for multiple news organization omitting that the person ICE arrested was wanted for murder? pic.twitter.com/dtg2Jo2JsR
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 19, 2018
Or not.
This guy is a suspected murderer. He’s a danger to the community, not to mention his wife. Yet none of this was mentioned. All we heard about were ICE agents apprehending a (very dangerous) man on the way to the hospital with his wife, because that’s what fit the narrative.
This is hardly uncommon, sadly. The media can’t stop covering this sort of thing as if illegal immigrants are all harmless fuzzballs being persecuted by the Blue Meanies at the ICE. None of them could even be bothered to mention that this guy supposedly killed a guy.
Welcome to America in 2018, folks. And it’s only going to get worse.
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