For nearly one hour, President Trump listened to California politicians talk about the negative impact of the state\u2019s sanctuary city policies, including how they complicate prosecutions of notoriously brutal MS-13 members. The media may have been listening, but their gross misrepresentation of comments exposes a tone deafness to the brutal nature of the gang.<\/p>\n
Fresno County Sheriff\u00a0Margaret Mims talked in detail to the president about her experience with sanctuary laws and how she is being prevented from telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about MS-13 gang members in her custody.<\/p>\n
In response, the president responded, \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe how bad these people are. These aren\u2019t people, these are animals, and we\u2019re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that\u2019s never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reaction to the president describing murderers and rapists as \u201canimals\u201d was lacking in accuracy and context.<\/p>\n
The New York Times headline declared, \u201cTrump calls some unauthorized immigrants \u2018Animals\u2019 in rant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the reporter said Trump had \u201clashed out at undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting on Wednesday, warning in front of news cameras that dangerous people were clamoring to breach the country\u2019s borders and branding such people \u201canimals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
USA Today asserted<\/a>, \u201cTrump ramps up rhetoric on undocumented immigrants: ‘These aren’t people. These are animals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n NBC News\u2019 Andrea Mitchell noted<\/a> the \u201ctough take down\u201d of Trump by a totally unbiased observer — California Gov. Jerry Brown, who went on a Twitter rant<\/a> of his own.<\/p>\n A news analysis in The Washington Post argued<\/a> Trump was \u201cevoking an ugly history of dehumanization.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the few media figures to correctly report the president\u2019s remarks was CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper, who tweeted<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cHere is the full context of President Trump\u2019s \u2018animals\u2019 comment during the immigration\/sanctuary city roundtable, which came as a Sheriff was complaining about restrictions placed on ICE databases, and MS-13 gang members.\u201d<\/p>\n The media\u2019s response showcases a bias against the president\u2019s immigration agenda that prevents them from recognizing some MS-13 members are worse than animals.<\/p>\n First, consider the gang\u2019s motto is \u201cKill. Rape. Control.\u201d<\/p>\n Second, a recent web report<\/a> by Boston\u2019s WBUR about the largest criminal case against MS-13 required an editor\u2019s note warning readers that they \u201cmay find the language or situations described below upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n The cases involved an El Salvadoran defendant who had hit his victim in the head with a machete and a Honduran who missed his target and ended up killing a mother standing outside a domestic abuse center with her children.<\/p>\n Reporters should speak with the family of 25-year-old Santos Arquimidis Sorto\u00a0Amay<\/a>, who was shot multiple times by MS-13 gang members, placed in the trunk of his car and driven to a park where the vehicle was set on fire.<\/p>\n Or better yet, with 22-year-old Edwin Chicas, whose gang name<\/a> is \u201cAnimal.\u201d<\/p>\n How outrageous.