If there was one thing that our politically divided country could agree on, it was the seriousness of drunk driving. But during Monday’s edition of The Lead, that common understanding took a back seat for CNN as they bemoaned that a so-called “DREAMer” was deported. “Last August [Jorge] Matadamas was charged with drunk driving and evading arrest. While in jail, he lost his DACA status,” reported Polo Sandoval, “[A] program which gave him a chance to live and work in the U.S. After seven months in detention, he was deported.”
CNN’s report came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatened to pull federal law enforcement funds to cities that hindered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “Now, this is one reason for heightened fears among some undocumented immigrants that they could be next joining thousands of people deported to Mexico this year,” announced fill-in host John Berman, at the top of the segment.
“CNN’s Polo Sandoval followed one of those deportees. A young man who was suddenly adjusting to a new life in a country he hardly knows,” Berman continued. He was talking about the DREAMer that was charged with drunk driving as though he was an innocent person snatched off the street.
Sandoval seemed as though he was trying to make Matadamas the poster child for young illegal immigrants who had been deported:
Unlike many Americanized Mexicans in this country Matadamas has family to turn to. Danielle Velsaco is among them. He's helping his cousin learn proper Spanish. And more about Mexican culture. Matadamas says he finds the experience overwhelming and he's not alone.
According to Sandoval, the Mexican government had a program designed to aid deported illegals assimilate to the new environment. “The government program helps repatriated Mexicans deported by the U.S. Nearly 32,000 this year,” he lamented, “…thousands of them struggle to assimilate in their native country.”
Matadamas was trying to make the best out of the situation. “Back home I was doing business management and so that's kind of what I want to focus on here and maybe I can start my own business,” he told Sandoval. But he worried that:
Right now it's just the uncertainty about what the future holds, that that kind of keeps me up at night just thinking about what's going to happen. Am I going to find a job? Is it going to be tomorrow is it going to be in a couple of months?
If CNN was trying to make the case that innocent people were being swept up by immigration officials, then they obviously chose the wrong guy. It would be interesting to know how Mothers Against Drunk Driving would feel about Matadamas’ deportation knowing he was being held on a drunk driving charge, including evading arrest.
That’s not to mention that it’s hypocritical for CNN to cherry pick this one case to champion against the Trump administration’s threat to sanctuary cities. Especially after Sunday’s Reliable Sources, where CNN’s “ridiculous figure,” Brian Stelter railed against Fox News for cherry picking the Rockville rape case to back up Trump’s calls for greater border security. Apparently, CNN picks more deserving cherries.
Transcript below:
CNN
The Lead
March 27, 2017
4:47:37 PM EasternJOHN BERMAN: The Attorney General today, repeated a threat to so-called “sanctuary cities.” Jeff Sessions threatened to withhold Justice Department funds and saying the failure to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions, quote, “puts whole communities as risks.” Now, this is one reason for heightened fears among some undocumented immigrants that they could be next joining thousands of people deported to Mexico this year. CNN’s Polo Sandoval followed one of those deportees. A young man who was suddenly adjusting to a new life in a country he hardly knows.
[Cuts to video]
JORGE MATADAMAS: I grew up in Phoenix from a very young age so that's all I kind of captured.
POLO SANDOVAL: Jorge feels out of place on the streets of Mexico City.
MATADAMAS: This is my country, but I've never actually been here.
SANDOVAL: The 23-year-old was only 4 when his parents took him to the United States illegally.
MATADAMAS: It's the little things, the little things that make me miss back home.
SANDOVAL: Last August Matadamas was charged with drunk driving and evading arrest. While in jail, he lost his DACA status. That’s the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which gave him a chance to live and work in the U.S. After seven months in detention, he was deported.
MATADAMAS: Back home I was doing business management and so that's kind of what I want to focus on here and maybe I can start my own business.
SANDOVAL: Matadamas says he's trying to stay positive.
MATADAMAS: Things happen for a reason. I just have to be strong and keep my head up and keep going.
SANDOVAL: Unlike many Americanized Mexicans in this country Matadamas has family to turn to. Danielle Velsaco is among them. He's helping his cousin learn proper Spanish. And more about Mexican culture. Matadamas says he finds the experience overwhelming and he's not alone.
GABRIELLA GARCIA [Via translator]: They are foreigners in their own country.
SANDOVAL: Gabriella Garcia heads Somos Mexicanos. The government program helps repatriated Mexicans deported by the U.S. Nearly 32,000 this year. She's seen thousands of them struggle to assimilate in their native country.
GARCIA [Via translator]: They understand they were born in Mexico but don't know much else.
…
MATADAMAS: Right now it's just the uncertainty about what the future holds, that that kind of keeps me up at night just thinking about what's going to happen. Am I going to find a job? Is it going to be tomorrow is it going to be in a couple of months?
SANDOVAL: While it's unlikely he'll get back into the U.S. anytime soon, Matadamas concedes he may just want to stay.
MATADAMAS: I mean, I had everything back in the United States, so why not have it here? That's how I look at things
SANDOVAL: Challenge now making his old life in a new country. Polo Sandoval, CNN, Mexico City.
