What was buried in the Trump/DREAMer deportation story?

The intended to be sympathetic protagonist of the story falls far short

The USA Today report was intended to be a heartstrings tugger. Titled “DREAMer is first to be deported under Trump,” it also provides another means of hammering President Donald Trump. As exotic dancer Gypsy Rose Lee quickly learned, ‘Ya gotta have a gimmick.”

Described as “shy,” Juan Manuel Montes, 23, rates kid glove treatment from reporters Alan Gomez and David Agren, whose mission is not only making victims of illegals, but getting their licks in on the Republican president.

The two-page article with an oversize full color photo of Montes, begins above-the-fold on Page One. The headline referred to in the opening paragraph here sweeps across the Gannett flagship’s front page. Gannett is the parent company of the Arizona Republic, which continues to shrink in size and content, often repeating identical articles in the same exact issue, earning it’s nom de plume, the Daily Regurgitation. 

The thrust is this hapless character, Juan Manuel Montes, mysteriously finds himself in a series of events that lead him to being repatriated to his native Mexico.

He is quoted as saying, “I thought that if I kept my nose clean, nothing would happen.” In his world theft and disobeying the law obviously qualify.

Buried at the end of the bobbing and weaving account of “undocumented” Montes we read that Court records show he has four convictions: one for shoplifting in January 2016, and three for driving without a license, most recently three months ago. There is a glib “the dog ate my homework” type of explanation offered for the lack of a license, having to do with leaving his wallet in a friend’s auto.

According to the newspaper’s report, Montes’ convictions are not serious enough to disqualify him from Barack Obama’s imposed DACA protections. Repeatedly entering the USA by stealth, in violation of the law and committing further crimes once here, isn’t murder, after all.

 For a memory refresher, read D.R.E.A.M. Act morphs into dreamy amnesty. It fills in the blanks in the USA Today fairy tale.