Bonchie; RedState
If I go up to the cops and tell them I murdered someone and then sign a statement to that effect, they are going to detain me until they figure out what's going on. That's what happened here, and it is not the fault of ICE or CBP that they were lied to.
"On Friday, the story of an American citizen being held by immigration officials for ten days burst into the political sphere. It was the perfect storm for the press, who were salivating over the opportunity to turn one of the Trump administration's best polling issues into a liability.
"As the original reporting went, Jose Hermosillo was wrongfully arrested in Albuquerque, NM, and held for over a week despite telling ICE officials that he was an American. It wasn't until his family showed up with a birth certificate and a Social Security card that he was released.
"On its face, this seemed like a pretty big flub by federal officials. After all, no one should want a government that can mistakenly arrest you and hold you for ten days without any evidence that you're an illegal alien. There's just one problem, though. Hermosillo not only told immigration officials he crossed the border illegally, but he also signed a statement swearing that as well.
"That sound you hear is the sound of a thousand narratives burning to the ground.
"This is why it's always smart to wait for more details before jumping on a story that sounds too good to be true, politically speaking. Democrats and those generally skeptical of Trump's increased immigration enforcement thought they had the holy grail here. Finally, ICE had rashly and unconstitutionally scooped up a U.S. citizen and violated their rights for over a week. It was the talking point they wanted.
"Except it turns out that Hermosillo not only told immigration authorities he wasn't an American citizen, but he even concocted an entire story about crossing the border illegally to find work in the United States. Why did he do that? I have no idea. Maybe he's got mental issues. Maybe he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing and thought posing as an illegal immigrant was the better option." . . .
The Press Is Back In Full Frenzy Mode, But This Time Nobody Is Listening
"When an illegal immigrant from El Salvador (widely depicted as a “Maryland father”) is deported back to a maximum security prison in his home country, the press acts as though any American citizen could suffer the same fate."
..."News stories assume the absolute worst about Trump. Reporters run with thinly sourced stories to attack him. They freak out about everything he says. Stoke panic at every turn. Endlessly predict doom and gloom. Play up astroturf protests. And studiously ignore whatever successes Trump does achieve. When context is needed, it’s ignored.
"This makes it all but impossible for the average American to know what they can trust, or when there actually is something to be concerned about. When everything is a crisis, nothing is.
"When rogue federal judges started routinely issuing universal injunctions against Trump executive orders, a practice that is legally suspect and was extremely rare until Trump showed up, the story wasn’t how these judges wildly overstepped their bounds, it’s that Trump was creating a “constitutional crisis.”
"When an illegal immigrant from El Salvador (widely depicted as a “Maryland father”) is deported back to a maximum security prison in his home country, the press acts as though any American citizen could suffer the same fate.
"When DOGE starts pruning the fantastically wasteful government and firing a few overpaid bureaucrats, the stories aren’t about the $2 trillion deficit that President Biden left Trump, but sob stories about laid-off workers and how “lives are at stake.' ” . . .
