Yesterday, CBS2 News reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an illegal alien soon-to-be dad as he stopped at the gas station on the way to the hospital with his pregnant wife. Shortly after the story broke, the article was updated to reflect that the man was actually wanted by Mexican authorities for murder. But, this new information didn't stop the left from going apoplectic and labeling the agency as "heartless."
CBS2 News Daniel Dale published the following story, "ICE Detains Man Driving Pregnant Wife To Deliver Baby."
ICE arrested a California man on Wednesday when he stopped for gas while driving his wife to the hospital for her C-section. She ended up driving herself the rest of the way, giving birth alone. https://t.co/T7MHsWvGVS
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 18, 2018
"A newborn is without his father Friday after immigration agents detained the man as he was taking his wife to deliver the baby," the article began.
“I feel very bad right now,” Maria del Carmen Venegas told CBS2 News in Spanish as she held her baby boy while still in her hospital gown.
The father, Joel Arrona-Lara, was taken into custody. The wife then voluntarily drove herself to the hospital for a scheduled cesarean section.
'My husband needs to be here,' Maria said. 'He had to wait for his son for so long, and someone just took him away.' Maria told CBS2 Arrona-Lara, who is from Mexico, has never been stopped by police, and that he’s never been in trouble with the law, not even for a ticket," according to CBS 2.
But then, the story was updated to reflect something different. It turns out, Arrona-Lara has had prior run-ins with the law. Arrona-Lara is wanted for murder in Mexico.
Important update: ICE said today that this man was arrested because of a homicide warrant for him in Mexico. ICE didn’t mention this in its comments to media yesterday. His lawyer says he denies that there are such Mexico charges; no details from ICE yet. https://t.co/AnIfv8DapM
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 19, 2018
In defense of Dale's original story, the mishap was not entirely his fault. Based on what ICE had said about the arrest at the time on Friday, it was not apparent that the man was wanted on homicide charges.
ICE was asked for comment by news outlets doing proper due diligence, and its responses didn’t mention anything about homicide - just said the usual about how no illegal immigrant is safe from arrest. I updated as soon as ICE provided new info. https://t.co/dfgPsopTJg
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 19, 2018
But, in comments given to the Daily Caller News Foundation ICE confirmed that the man is indeed wanted for murder. “Mr. Arrona-Lara was brought to ICE’s attention due to an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Mexico on homicide charges,” ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley told DCNF.
The story is now updated to say "ICE Detains Man Driving Pregnant Wife To Deliver Baby, Says He Is Wanted For Homicide In Mexico." The story also reflects his charges. Despite this new information, the original tweet portraying ICE as arresting father heading to the hospital for his wife's c-section still remains. This has led to comments like these from liberals across America:
There’s heartless and then there’s whatever the hell this is. https://t.co/qWgPoJ2ABe
— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) August 18, 2018
ICE detained Joel while he drove his wife to the hospital to deliver their baby.
— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 19, 2018
How is government serving its purpose here? How does this better society?
This leaves a mom without a partner, a baby without a father, and us without a soul.#AbolishICEhttps://t.co/XEy7609HXz
These accusatory tweets have amassed thousands of retweets without giving the full story to the public. This problem of misinformation is truly becoming an evergreen story in America. It follows a simple pattern. Somebody on the left shares a misleading article denigrating President Trump, ICE, or Conservatives, then the article is updated to reflect the true story, all the while the original fake news is spread amongst the left. If a follow-up tweeting admitting a mistake is issued, rarely does it reach the audience the original tweet hit. Dale even acknowledges this problem with his own tweet.
That said, if ICE’s claim about a homicide warrant is accurate, I think it’s bad that way more people will see the original tweet than the update tweet, and I wish I hadn’t tweeted it out before ICE’s second statement.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 19, 2018
The only solution is to delete the original tweet, which should be done in this case.
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