A New York Times report published on Monday claimed that at least 15 American citizens have been “arrested or detained and questioned” by law enforcement officials as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security rejected the Times’ accusations in a press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News.
The Times claimed that the DHS has “roamed the streets, courthouses and workplaces demanding proof of citizenship from residents,” particularly in Southern California communities.
'Any US citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement.'
The DHS rejected the Times’ accusation, emphasizing that its operations are “highly targeted” and do not result in the arrest of U.S. citizens.
“We do our due diligence,” the department explained. “We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability. ICE does not arrest or detain U.S. citizens.”
The Times further reported that Americans had been detained overnight in immigration facilities without access to a lawyer or a phone call.
The DHS stated this was not true, noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers have higher standards "than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”
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“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,” the DHS said.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” the DHS continued.
The Times highlighted several cases, including those involving Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, Jason Brian Gavidia, Javier Ramirez, George Retes, and Leonardo Garcia Venegas. The outlet reported that all the individuals were American citizens who were unjustly targeted by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
According to the news outlet, Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, was riding in his employer’s truck with his co-workers in May when the Florida Highway Patrol pulled them over. After Laynez-Ambrosio and the other vehicle occupants refused to exit the vehicle, troopers forcibly removed them, the Times reported. Laynez-Ambrosio was allegedly held at a nearby Border Patrol facility for roughly six hours, despite repeatedly telling officials he was a U.S. citizen.
The DHS argued that Laynez-Ambrosio, who was in the vehicle with “several adult male illegal aliens from Guatemala,” resisted arrest during the traffic stop. Border Patrol agents, who were responding to a request for assistance from the FHP, arrested the illegal aliens.
Law enforcement officials detained Gavidia, 29, and Ramirez, 32, after conducting an operation at their place of business in East Los Angeles in June. The Times claimed that both were American citizens who were improperly targeted.
“Gavidia was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents performing their duties,” the DHS stated. “Javier Ramirez was detained on the street for investigation for interference and released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants.”
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The Times reported that law enforcement agents unjustly detained Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. Army veteran, in July. During the detainment, officers allegedly broke his windshield and pepper-sprayed him after mistakenly identifying him as an unruly protester. Retes was on his way to work as a security guard for Glass House Farms, a marijuana farm in California. At the time of the incident, the farm was the site of a federal law enforcement operation, which sparked an anti-ICE demonstration.
The DHS claimed that Retes “became violent and refused to comply with law enforcement” while they were executing criminal search warrants at the farm.
“He challenged agents and blocked their route by refusing to move his vehicle out of the road. CBP arrested Retes for assault,” the department said.
The Times reported that authorities wrongfully targeted Venegas while he was working at a construction site. He began recording the officers after witnessing them push his brother, who is an illegal immigrant, to the ground, according to the news outlet. An officer allegedly tackled Venegas and kept him handcuffed for hours.
“During a targeted worksite operation, Garcia Venegas attempted to obstruct and prevent the lawful arrest of an illegal alien,” the DHS wrote. “He physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands. Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, “We have said it a million times: ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens. Not even a week after the terrorist attack targeting ICE in Dallas, the media is once again shamefully peddling a false narrative, attempting to demonize our DHS law enforcement agents, who are already facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them.”
“Any U.S. citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement,” McLaughlin declared.
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Democrats and the liberal media spent years characterizing President Donald Trump as a would-be dictator, a Nazi, a threat to democracy, and a danger to minorities. This demonization campaign set the stage for at least two known attempted assassinations.
In advance of his alleged Sept. 15, 2024, attempt on Trump's life, Ryan Routh even parroted word for word some of the alarmist rhetoric pushed by the president's liberal critics.
'This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country.'
Trump's good friend, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, was similarly long the subject of a liberal demonization campaign.
On Wednesday, the loving husband and father of two was assassinated in broad daylight in front of a massive crowd at Utah Valley University.
"It's long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible," President Donald Trump said in a video statement after Kirk's death.
"For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals," continued Trump. "This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today — and it must stop right now."
— (@)
Following Kirk's assassination, the New York Times released an obituary titled "Charlie Kirk, Right-Wing Provocateur and Close Ally of Trump, Dies at 31."
While an earlier version was relatively benign and largely stuck to the facts, the obituary was expanded over the course of several hours to include numerous critical elements, some reminiscent of a smear report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center in May.
'They’d love nothing more than to see TPUSA in the crosshairs.'
The obituary not only accused Kirk of spreading "unsupported claims and outright lies" and attacked him for "embracing the false right-wing narrative that Mr. Trump had actually won the White House in his race against Joseph R. Biden Jr.," but suggested that the deceased had added "an antisemitic twist" to the "popular far-right idea that immigrants will soon displace white Americans."
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The Times made sure to suggest that Kirk amplified the left's go-to bogeyman of 2024, "Christian nationalism," and claimed he "continued to provoke," citing as an example his willingness to question the popular hagiographies for George Floyd and Martin Luther King Jr.
Whereas the Times toned down its insinuations about the assassinated conservative's imagined bigotry in light of the circumstances, it nevertheless drew on a nasty narrative constructed over time by liberal critics of Kirk and his organization.
One of the most inflammatory publications bolstering this false narrative was the SPLC's May 22 "Year in Hate and Extremism 2024" report, which contained a lengthy section titled "Turing Point USA: A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024."
The SPLC report stated that Kirk's organization was "emblematic" of the American political right's supposed embrace of "aggressive state and federal power to enforce a social order rooted in white supremacy" against a backdrop of "patriarchal Christian supremacy dedicated to eroding the value of inclusive democracy and public institutions."
It further suggested that Kirk's organization was advancing a "narrow vision" that fights for "white, male, Christian dominance in America" and results in the demonization of nonconforming men, women, and "nonbinary people."
In addition to noting — as the Times did Wednesday in its obituary — that Kirk criticized Martin Luther King Jr., claiming he did so to "discredit civil rights legislation," the SPLC suggested that Kirk framed Christianity as superior and Christians as persecuted to justify TPUSA's "extreme, authoritarian vision for the country that threatens the foundation of our democracy."
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The section on Kirk and TPUSA concludes with, "Turning Point USA’s effort to sow fear and division to enforce social hierarchies rooted in supremacism is emblematic of the hard right’s broader political project to destroy our foundational democratic principles and institutions."
Kirk responded to the hit piece on May 25, stating, "The SPLC has added Turning Point to their ridiculous 'hate group' list, right next to the KKK and neo-Nazis, a cheap smear from a washed-up org that's been fleecing scared grandmas for decades."
"Their game plan? Scare financial institutions into debanking us, pressure schools to cancel us, and demonize us so some unhinged lunatic feels justified targeting us," continued Kirk. "Remember the Family Research Council? An SPLC-inspired gunman went after them. They’d love nothing more than to see TPUSA in the crosshairs."
Even after Kirk called it out, the SPLC kept smearing the patriot.
The day before Kirk's assassination, the SPLC listed Kirk in its September "Hatewatch" report.
Blaze News has reached out to the White House and to the SPLC for comment.
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The Joe Biden-era FBI’s Arctic Frost operation — which targeted nearly every facet of the Republican Party and the conservative movement — was described Wednesday as “100 times worse than Watergate,” but the propaganda press still chose to ignore it. Larger new outlets turned a blind eye to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s press conference detailing […]
America cannot survive without heritage Americans.
To listen to The New York Times’ David French about Cracker Barrel, free speech, Christians, or anything at all is to abuse your own mind.
When Trump was indicted and had the full weight of the weaponized justice system thrown at him, the Times hailed it as necessary to preserve the rule of law. When Comey is indicted, however, suddenly it's the entire justice system itself that is at threat.
After Charlie Kirk was murdered, allegedly by a shooter who accused him of 'spreading hate,' the NYT falsely accused Kirk of making antisemitic statements.
For legacy media, 'journalism' isn't about telling the truth. It’s about doing the best darn PR for Democrats they possibly can.
David French's schtick is too obvious now to pretend he’s doing anything but a 'real conservative' minstrel show for pay.
A New York Times author quietly made a series of admissions that, only a few years ago, would have been dismissed as reactionary bigotry.
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