You Hear the Sob Story, Not the Back Story

I admit that I am as susceptible as any bleeding heart to the sob stories I read or see about the "victims" of ICE. 

While I do believe that illegal aliens have no right to be here and that they should leave or be deported (and if they leave voluntarily, they should have the opportunity to apply like anybody else), I don't relish cruelty for cruelty's sake. So when I read some stories, I cringe, both because I wish that we were not at the point where the only way to solve our illegal immigrant crisis was mass deportations, and because I know that my liberal friends will try to force me to justify to them whatever cruel thing they read about. 

But then I remember: most of these stories are made up or distorted beyond recognition. 

A case in point:

This makes NO SENSE. A 13-year-old was arrested by local police for unknown reasons, and then turned over to ICE, which is detaining him far away from his mother — who is going through immigration court, has an asylum application on file, and is legally authorized to work. https://t.co/nZoI1E3E6s pic.twitter.com/2b3Zab7T68

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) October 13, 2025

The story of a young teen cruelly arrested and sent thousands of miles away by the vicious people of ICE was blasted across the land, and predictably elicited outrage from all the usual suspects. That, in turn, plucked the heartstrings of the intended audience, who had their preconception that ICE was evil confirmed once again. 

We got the sob story. The mother. A good boy. Nothing but cruelty. Emotional torture. You know the drill. 

Only...

So @ReichlinMelnick is admitting here that he will shriek on X, framing every story like he did before knowing, like…the facts? pic.twitter.com/65J5gCwc6L

— Greg Scott (@GScottSays) October 14, 2025

Well, it turns out that the boy was indeed young, but he surely was not innocent. He was arrested with a gun and a large knife, and had quite the rap sheet. 

The Boston Globe framed the story in the most incendiary way possible, omitting the facts about the young man that seem quite relevant--he is a violent criminal and was carrying a firearm (ever notice how liberals keep wanting to pass gun laws, but never enforce them against violent criminals?). I'm pretty sure he wasn't hunting pheasant that day, you know...

When confronted by the facts, this immigration activist gets all huffy and complains that none of the stories he read included those facts, which is no doubt true. But that says everything you need to know about how the "news" works, doesn't it? None of the stories are intended to inform you of all the facts, but rather exist to manipulate your emotions. 

To be clear, absolutely none of that information is included in public reporting on this story and the Everett Police Department did not give any statement to the Boston Globe about the initial arrest. Tricia is the the first person to ever give this info. https://t.co/bVEp93wb5l

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) October 13, 2025

Who doesn't sympathize with a mother crying for her child? I do. It's why the story was framed as it was, just as the Kilmar Abrego-Garcia story was all about how he was a "father," not a wife-beater and human trafficker. Everybody weeps for a loving father; nobody gets all weepy about an MS-13 member with a history of domestic abuse. 

The "I didn't know" excuse for jumping on the bandwagon might be acceptable if the distortion of these stories weren't a constant; at some point, you have to assume that the sob stories are false unless proven otherwise. Just as every story of swastikas and nooses showing up on Ivy League campuses is revealed to be a hoax these days, most of these stories are manipulated beyond recognition once you know all the facts. 

It's the same with the "innocent protesters assaulted by ICE" stories. You never hear the full context of what happened before the altercation. In almost every case, the person involved was actively breaking the law by impeding law enforcement, and in many cases, they assaulted the officer. These "protesters" are all filming and putting together a manipulated story that implies that the officer is on a rampage, rather than the opposite. 

It works, though. Narratives work, at least with people who are primed to believe. How many people bought into the Jussie Smollett story? Or the Covington kids, where the entire media kicked into high gear, selling a story that was literally the opposite of reality? 

"Evil MAGA Catholic White Supremacists humiliate Native American Elder."

What crap. But it worked. The outrage machine got what it wanted, and even when the story fell apart--and it did so only through the herculean efforts of conservatives who refused to let it die--it had accomplished its goal. How many liberals apologized? Media folks had to be sued to retract the stories, and none were actually sorry. 

The irony is that none of this would have been necessary had the Biden administration not imported 10-15 million illegal aliens and put them on public support. Americans were annoyed by illegal immigration before Biden and wanted the border closed. After Biden, they are enraged and want everybody deported ASAP. 

Liberals did this to themselves and the people they imported. 

Pravda isn't interested in informing people; it exists to point people in a certain direction and activate them. Sometimes they lie, but more often they massage the story to create false impressions that benefit the left. 

ICE arrested a child! Yep. And no. The local police picked him up on the way to assault somebody with a gun and a knife, called ICE, and then they arrested him because he was a dangerous criminal who just happened to be a teenager. 

I'm not crying for him, and neither should you. ICE probably saved somebody's life.