National Media Buries Key Facts To Make ICE Agents Look Bad

A big story over the weekend has been the story of what, at first blush, is painted by the media as being an example of more cruel and heartless behavior by the agency they love to hate, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. By the way, it is funny to see how federal agencies change character in media reporting based upon whether they are doing things that interferes with the progressive agenda. Back when the FBI was trying to stop terror attacks in the US, instead of engaging in political espionage, the FBI was constantly abused in the press for the “chilling” effect it had on Muslims talking about bombing stuff. Now that the FBI seems to have been out to torpedo a GOP presidential nominee, they are the “thin red line of heroes.” ICE actually enforcing federal immigration law has put a bull’s eye on them from the standpoint of media coverage.

According to the story, Joel Arrona Lara, a 36-year-old illegal was taking his wife to the hospital to deliver another anchor baby. On the way they stopped to get gas.

At that point, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surrounded the car and asked Venegas for an identification. She gave it to them. But when Arrona said he didn’t have any ID on him, things quickly took a turn.

Venegas told Univision that she thought officers would understand she needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, but that was far from the case. “They asked him to get out [of the car], that they would check him and that’s when they put him in handcuffs and took him away,” Venegas said, noting her husband doesn’t have a criminal record and has never been deported. She only found out they were ICE agents when they handed her their card with a number she could call for more information on the case.

The woman, Maria del Carmen Venegas, is also illegal and she has five other children…all US citizens.

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

ICE officers arrest man who was driving pregnant wife to hospital for C-section. https://t.co/jvE15MY5RK pic.twitter.com/MdHkqwKFaf

— Slate (@Slate) August 19, 2018

Two things should grab the non-credulous reader. The Slate story tries to make it seem like the ICE agents just swooped in and detained Arrona Lara for being Hispanic and not having ID. Why would they have picked that particular car? Were they just staking out gas stations and waiting for unwitting illegals to drop in for a fill-up? And Venegas was illegal but not detained. Venegas drove herself to the hospital for her scheduled C-section indicating that it was not an emergency.

The story was more complicated than the media and Ms. Venegas tried to portray it. This is the statement by ICE:

Mr. Arrona-Lara, a citizen of Mexico illegally residing in the United States, was taken into custody Wednesday by ICE Fugitive Operations Team officers in San Bernardino, Calif. Mr. Arrona-Lara is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Mr. Arrona-Lara was brought to ICE’s attention due to an outstanding warrant issued for his arrest in Mexico on homicide charges.

ICE continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. ICE conducts targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy. However, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.

On the whole, I’m not sure what all the whining is about. Apparently, Mexico has asked for his extradition to stand trial for murder. As a rule, in the United States murders are arrested unless their name is Kennedy. If a US citizen was being apprehended for murder, I’m not sure he would have been allowed to run a few errands and get back to the cops when he was mentally prepared for arrest.

What makes this story so sickening is across the board the media headline the fact that Arrona Lara was arrested while driving his wife to the hospital, it is only a few paragraphs into the story that the say, “oh, by the way, the guy was wanted for murder.” The real headline isn’t “ICE arrests husband taking wife to hospital,” it is “ICE arrests wanted murderer living openly in the United States.”

These people aren’t playing it straight. They are pushing a political agenda and policy preference under the guise of reporting. And then they complain about being called #FakeNews.

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