Viewers of Univision, long accustomed to seeing anti-law enforcement stories night after night on the network’s national evening news, received a welcome break from the routine this week.
The nation’s top Spanish-language television network reported on the results of Project Shadowfire, a joint federal, state and local operation over the past month which captured over 1,000 criminals, the vast majority of whom are undocumented immigrant members of criminal gangs.
In the report, Univision’s Pedro Rojas interviewed ICE Special Agent Armando Astorga, who sounded uncannily like Donald Trump.
ARMANDO ASTORGA, ICE SPECIAL AGENT: They bring a lot of violence, and they are people with few scruples.
PEDRO ROJAS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: The majority of the detained are from El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, according to the official.
Astorga pointed out that one of those apprehended was a gang member arrested for raping a minor. According to ICE, the cabal of over a thousand ‘bad dudes’ were involved in drug trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, murder, rape and racketeering, among other crimes.
Specifically, according to ICE, 915 of those arrested were gang members and associates, with 1,001 charged with criminal offenses and 132 with immigration violations.
Rojas’ report was a welcome change for a network better known for pushing anti-law enforcement narratives and stories that often leave important details, context and pro-law enforcement views out. Such glaring omissions have recently happened, for example, in coverage of issues surrounding sanctuary cities.
Below are relevant portions of the report, which aired during the March 29 edition of Noticiero Univision:
NOTICIERO UNIVISION
3/29/16
6:33:57 – 6:36:14 PM EST | 2 min 17 sec
MARIA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: More than 1,000 presumed members of organized crime were arrested in recent raids at the national level as part of a federal plan to protect communities. The majority are gang members and members of criminal gangs that operate in the country and abroad, and dedicate themselves to human, sexual and drug trafficking. The captured are citizens of 13 different countries. Many of them apprehended in Texas, where Pedro Rojas is currently. Let’s see his report.
PEDRO ROJAS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: In a five-week operation that looked to weaken organized criminal activity in the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement captured 1,133 individuals at the national level, 915 of them members and associates of gangs that participate in crimes of human trafficking, of drugs, weapons or prostitution.
ARMANDO ASTORGA, ICE SPECIAL AGENT: The important thing is that all of these cases have a great impact in the local communities, because these are the people that are terrorizing their communities.
PEDRO ROJAS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: In the Houston area alone 112 people were detained, among them two women that are affiliated to 26 gangs. It was an operation that also involved together local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
ARMANDO ASTORGA, ICE SPECIAL AGENT: We had a case that in a matter of a few days we were able to identify and arrest a person – a gang member, the MC13 gang, that was involved in a crime, having just raped a minor.
…
ARMANDO ASTORGA, ICE SPECIAL AGENT: They bring a lot of violence, and they are people with few scruples.
PEDRO ROJAS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: The majority of the detained are from El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico, according to the official.
PEDRO ROJAS, REPORTER, UNIVISION: Spokespersons of the Immigration service said that the detained for criminal activities in Houston face major trials in state and federal courts, and those eligible for immediate deportation could be repatriated in less than a month.
