{"id":16473,"date":"2018-02-20T15:34:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T20:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16473"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:51:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:51:58","slug":"media-reporting-ice-arrests-simply-criminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/02\/20\/media-reporting-ice-arrests-simply-criminal\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Reporting on ICE Arrests is Simply Criminal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its latest summary<\/a> on enforcement activities, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that a majority of overall administrative arrests made in FY 2017, were of individuals who had a criminal conviction (73.7 percent) or pending criminal charges (15.5 percent).<\/p>\n

But the good news from ICE contradicts the media\u2019s narrative that agents are targeting \u201cinnocent\u201d illegal immigrants and tearing families apart.<\/p>\n

Even though a mere 10.8 percent of arrestees had no known criminal convictions or charges, news organizations printed stories designed to demonize enforcement agencies and discredit their actions.<\/p>\n

A Washington Post<\/em> headline frighteningly declared<\/a> that \u201cTrump takes \u2018shackles\u2019 off ICE, which is slapping them on immigrants who thought they were safe.\u201d The article contends the \u201cbiggest jump in arrests has been of immigrants with no criminal convictions,\u201d adding that ICE made 37,734 \u201cnoncriminal\u201d arrests in FY 2017.<\/p>\n

The Hill used that report to assert<\/a> that \u201cNoncriminal\u201d immigrant arrests double in past year,\u201d while a Vice <\/em>headline<\/a> targeted ICE for \u201crounding up\u201d noncriminal aliens \u201cwhile Congress tries to fix DACA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post<\/em> story \u2013 and the refurbished Hill <\/em>piece \u2013 is partly correct. Yes, there were 37,734 noncriminal arrests made. But what\u2019s missing is that a total of 59 percent of those \u201chad unresolved criminal charges at the time of their arrest,\u201d and 23 percent were fugitives or multiple deportees, according to ICE data.<\/p>\n

Other news outlets opted for simple mischaracterization and downplaying of the crimes.<\/p>\n

Newsweek <\/em>magazine insinuated<\/a> the criminality of the aliens was insignificant in an article headlined: \u201cMost charges in ICE criminal crackdown related to traffic offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magazine reported accurately the number of arrests, but downplayed them by noting \u201cmore than a quarter of the undocumented immigrants’ previous charges were related to traffic offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, 80,547 had prior arrests or convictions for driving under the influence, a crime which led to the deaths of 10,490 lives in 2016, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>. Ask the families of the 29 people who die each day in alcohol-related crashes how minor the offense is.<\/p>\n

The coverage by The New Yorker<\/em><\/a> took the apocalyptic route stating the \u201craids\u201d showed that \u201cany immigrant who is undocumented is now at risk of being arrested and deported.\u201d Ignoring the fact that it was breaking U.S. immigration laws that put them at risk, the magazine went on to assert \u201cimmigrants who have lived productive lives in the U.S. for decades are being rounded up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The utter lack of journalistic integrity is bad for the future of the industry, but their misrepresentation of what ICE is doing and threat posed by criminal aliens is bad for the nation.