NBC News Retracts ‘Bait’ Claim Against ICE, Quietly Corrects Story

Yesterday, we reported that NBC News attempted to smear ICE by accusing the agency of using a five-year-old autistic girl as “bait” to apprehend her illegal immigrant father.

Here’s what NBC News wrote yesterday:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents held a 5-year-old autistic girl outside her Massachusetts home to pressure her father to surrender to authorities last week, according to the girl’s family — an allegation that the Department of Homeland Security strongly disputes.

A video of the incident, obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, shows a young girl surrounded by what appears to be several male law enforcement agents outside of her home in Leominster, Massachusetts, last Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back against what they called “disgusting smears.” It turned out the illegal immigrant abandoned his daughter in an effort to flee from ICE.

DHS wrote on X, “Edwards Hip Mejia, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, ignored law enforcement emergency lights and darted inside his house, abandoning his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment. Stop the smears. Stop the lies.”

Now, NBC News has quietly deleted its original post and altered the story to reflect reality.

NBC updated the post and issued a correction that read, “An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents in the video. The article has been updated.”

While the headline of the story has changed, the story itself simply has a footnote correction. In the opening paragraphs, NBC News writes that video, “shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a 5-year-old girl, whose mother says is autistic, while agents attempt to arrest her father near their Massachusetts home,” but goes on to quote the girl’s mother accusing ICE of “taking” her daughter.

But — as always — the damage is done. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) quoted the original post and called ICE “vile and beyond cruel” before demanding ICE be abolished.

Omar’s post currently has 1.5 million views, and while we no longer can see how many views NBC News’s original post had, it was significantly higher than the 35,000 views the correction has as of Wednesday afternoon.

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

Help us continue to expose their left-wing bias by reading news you can trust. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.

Yesterday, we reported that NBC News attempted to smear ICE by accusing the agency of using a five-year-old autistic girl as “bait” to apprehend her illegal immigrant father.

Here’s what NBC News wrote yesterday:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents held a 5-year-old autistic girl outside her Massachusetts home to pressure her father to surrender to authorities last week, according to the girl’s family — an allegation that the Department of Homeland Security strongly disputes.

A video of the incident, obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, shows a young girl surrounded by what appears to be several male law enforcement agents outside of her home in Leominster, Massachusetts, last Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back against what they called “disgusting smears.” It turned out the illegal immigrant abandoned his daughter in an effort to flee from ICE.

DHS wrote on X, “Edwards Hip Mejia, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, ignored law enforcement emergency lights and darted inside his house, abandoning his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment. Stop the smears. Stop the lies.”

Now, NBC News has quietly deleted its original post and altered the story to reflect reality.

NBC updated the post and issued a correction that read, “An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents in the video. The article has been updated.”

While the headline of the story has changed, the story itself simply has a footnote correction. In the opening paragraphs, NBC News writes that video, “shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a 5-year-old girl, whose mother says is autistic, while agents attempt to arrest her father near their Massachusetts home,” but goes on to quote the girl’s mother accusing ICE of “taking” her daughter.

But — as always — the damage is done. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) quoted the original post and called ICE “vile and beyond cruel” before demanding ICE be abolished.

Omar’s post currently has 1.5 million views, and while we no longer can see how many views NBC News’s original post had, it was significantly higher than the 35,000 views the correction has as of Wednesday afternoon.

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

Help us continue to expose their left-wing bias by reading news you can trust. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.