Over the weekend, Fox and Friends Sunday gave attention to the story of an elderly woman who was murdered last month by an illegal immigrant from Guyana who was recently protected from deportation by New York's sanctuary policies.
Daria Ortiz -- the granddaughter of murder victim Maria Fuertes -- appeared as a guest in the aftermath of meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to help promote the President's actions to pressure sanctuary cities to stop harboring criminal aliens.
At 6:24 a.m. Eastern, co-host Griff Jenkins set up the segment: "An emotional speech by the granddaughter of Maria Fuertes, the 92-year-old woman who was killed last month by an illegal immigrant. The family is speaking out, blaming New York City's sanctuary policies for her tragic death."
After showing a few clips of Ortiz speaking at the White House event, in which she recalled that her grandmother was a legal immigrant who was murdered by an illegal alien, Jenkins introduced his guest, and asked her what she would wish to say to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, who supports the city's sanctuary policies.
Ortiz blamed the sanctuary policy for not protecting her grandmother as she responded: "My message to him is I'm not against immigration, just illegal immigration. I think he should do something about this because this could have been avoided had there not been a sanctuary law. This man would have been deported a long time ago, and my grandma would still be here today."
After Ortiz recalled what a kind and generous woman her grandmother was, and what she had done to help others, Jenkins asked a followup question in which he brought up the argument made by liberals that illegal immigrants are more likely to report crimes if they do not fear deportation. Ortiz argued that such a mindset places the safety of illegal immigrants ahead of the safety of U.S. citizens as she reacted:
America's priority should be to keeping the citizens safe first. So they can't make illegal immigrants feel safe and, at the same time, make their own citizens feel unsafe because what happens is, with the sanctuary laws, these immigrants are allowed to stay here even after they've committed an offense, a crime, like in the situation -- case with my grandmother.
She then recalled that the perpetrator could have been deported after he attacked his own father, but the city refused to honor an ICE detainer: "This man, three months prior, had attacked his own father, and he was released because ICE sent the detainer request to the NYPD which they denied which legally they have the right to because of Mayor de Blasio passing the sanctuary law. So had that not been in place, then they would have been able to detain him."
According to a Nexis search, CNN, MSNBC, and the broadcast networks have all ignored the story which Fox News has covered a number of times over the past month.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the February 16 Fox and Friends Sunday:
Fox and Friends Sunday
2/16/2020
GRIFF JENKINS, HOST: An emotional speech by the granddaughter of Maria Fuertes, the 92-year-old woman who was killed last month by an illegal immigrant. The family is speaking out, blaming New York City's sanctuary policies for her tragic death.
DARIA ORTIZ, GRANDDAUGHTER OF MURDER VICTIM: She is a shining example of when people come legally to this country.
ORTIZ: The tragedy in all of this is the fact that this could have been avoided had there been no sanctuary law.
ORTIZ: The system not only failed our family, but it failed our city.
JENKINS: Maria Fuertes's granddaughter, Daria Ortiz, joins us. ... What message would you like to send to Bill de Blasio?
ORTIZ: My message to him is I'm not against immigration, just illegal immigration. I think he should do something about this because this could have been avoided had there not been a sanctuary law. This man would have been deported a long time ago, and my grandma would still be here today.
(...)
JENKINS: We saw from the Los Angeles mayor that he basically says that the sanctuary cities protect the immigrant community, and that by not having sanctuary cities, it would make the community less safe because immigrants would be more afraid to report crimes. Do you agree?
ORTIZ: I think it's not a yes or really no answer. I think it's good for them to feel safe, but since this is America, America's priority should be to keeping the citizens safe first. So they can't make illegal immigrants feel safe and, at the same time, make their own citizens feel unsafe because what happens is, with the sanctuary laws, these immigrants are allowed to stay here even after they've committed an offense, a crime, like in the situation -- case with my grandmother.
This man, three months prior, had attacked his own father, and he was released because ICE sent the detainer request to the NYPD which they denied which legally they have the right to because of Mayor de Blasio passing the sanctuary law. So had that not been in place, then they would have been able to detain him. So, in essence, it's almost as if the police are not even allowed to do their jobs.
(...)
Americans should be safe, and, if people want to come here because they are fearful of their countries, they can't now come to our country and make us fearful also. So they have to find a better way. I'm not against immigration, but illegal immigration is what the problem here is.
