Broadcast networks really don’t want to talk about illegal immigrant crime.
Last month, NewsBusters commended ABC, CBS, and NBC for spending a combined 28 minutes in their evening news broadcasts on the murder of Newman, California police Corporal Ronil Singh by an illegal alien. However, that coverage was a rare exception to broadcast television’s overall lousy track record of burying crimes committed by individuals living in the U.S. illegally.
Crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens deserve attention because, by their very nature, all of them theoretically could have been prevented with sufficient enforcement of existing laws. Even if the crime rate among illegal aliens were a fraction of that among the native population, those few offenses still committed would be otherwise avoidable if the culprits had been either deported or prevented from entering in the first place.
MRC analysts examined Nexis transcripts of all network evening news coverage from 2018 and compiled the following list of some of the most heinous crimes committed by unlawful residents over the past year. None of these stories received even a second of evening news coverage – with the exception of the Colorado Spring Wildfire, which the networks briefly covered without mentioning the accused’s immigration status.
Authorities: "Violent Crime Spree"
On December 16, 2018, Gustavo Garcia allegedly gunned down 51-year-old Rocky Jones at a Visalia, California gas station, in what authorities described as part of a “violent crime spree.” Garcia, whom authorities also believe was responsible for a string of other shootings in the area, was previously ordered deported in 2014. His criminal record dates back to 2002.
Senior Citizen Dismembered, Beheaded
In November, Christian Ponce-Martinez reportedly killed, dismembered, and beheaded 76-year-old Georgia resident Robert Page. Ponce-Martinez had entered the United States illegally through Mexico just three months earlier. According to Clayton County police Major Craig Hammer, authorities found part of Page's body inside a cooler in Ponce-Matinez's house. "Other parts of his body were located under two tarps in the backyard," Hammer told local reporters.
Two-Day Multiple Homicide
Earlier in November, Springfield, Missouri residents Steven Marler and Aaron Hampton were allegedly killed at gunpoint by Mexican national Luis Rodrigo Perez. The following day, Perez allegedly shot and killed 21-year-old Sabrina Starr, and wounded two others. Perez had previously been detained in New Jersey on domestic violence charges in 2017. However, he was later released after the county rejected a detainer request from ICE, claiming the agency's request did not meet the proper criteria.
16-Year-Old Stabbed to Death
On Sptember 8, 2018, Sixteen-year-old Madison Wells of New Jersey was reportedly stabbed to death by Bryan Cordero Castro. Castro, 20, who came to the U.S. illegally from Guatemala, allegedly killed the teenager after she broke off a romantic relationship with him. According to reports, he had persistently asked Wells to meet with him in the days before the incident.
141 Counts of Arson
As NewsBusters noted back in July, all three networks abruptly stopped covering the Spring Creek Fire in Colorado following the arrest of Jesper Joergensen, a Danish national who was living in the U.S. on an expired visa. ABC and CBS ran one segment apiece about the suspect’s arrest in connection with the conflagration, neither of which mentioned his immigration status. The wildfire continued into September, consuming over 100,000 acres and destroying 140 homes, but the networks never mentioned it again.
Bodies Dropped in the Street
In early June of 2018, a surveillance camera captured a man dropping the body of 41-year-old Ann Farrin on a Miami, Florida street corner. Authorities later identified the culprit as Juan Carlos Hernandez-Caseres of Honduras, who was in the country illegally. Hernandez-Caseres was also charged with the murder of Neidy Roche, another woman who had been found dead on a street corner in March of that year.
Healthcare Worker Suffocates Elderly Patients
In March of 2018, 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris was found “dead of apparent suffocation” in her Dallas, Texas home. Local police charged Billy Chemirmir, a Kenyan healthcare worker staying in the U.S. illegally, with Harris’s murder. Chemirmir was also linked to the assault of a 91-year-old woman in Plano, Texas, who reported being robbed after a man forcibly held a pillow over her face. More victims have since come forward with similar claims, and police are now investigating Chemirmir for two other possible murders.
