For years, if not decades, it's been obvious that all too many local, regional, and national journalists do everything they can to keep important details about criminal acts committed by people who are in this country illegally out of their reports. Immigration-enforcement advocates who attempt to track such crimes have told me on several occasions that they typically have to try to access court records to get full details which should clearly have been shouted out in news stories' headlines.
A Wednesday afternoon story written up at OregonLive.com, the web site of the Oregonian newspaper, provides a perfect and genuinely sickening example.
Here is the full initial report by the paper's Samantha Matsumoto:
Police arrest man accused of attacking two women in NE Portland
Police arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her Northeast Portland home on Monday then attacking a woman in a parking garage later that day.
Officers arrested Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, on Monday evening after Martinez reportedly attacked a woman in a parking garage in the 2100 block of Northeast Halsey Street, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said.
Martinez, armed with a knife, ran from police, but was captured in a neighborhood apartment, Simpson said. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and was released and booked into the Multnomah County Jail on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, police say Martinez broke into a 65-year-old woman's house a few blocks away on Northeast Irving Street. He physically and sexually assaulted the woman, then stole her car, Simpson said.
Martinez is charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping, burglary, sodomy, sex abuse and second-degree assault. Investigators expect additional charges after Martinez is arraigned Wednesday.
Though it has outrageous particulars, Matsumoto's reporting on Martinez's crimes made it all look rather routine.
Unfortunately for her and the Oregonian, Oregon TV station KOIN engaged in actual journalism and gave readers ugly details anyone would have expected any responsible journalist to report.
Here is the video report:
Here are excerpts from the station's web report, which largely tracks and expands on the video seen above, concentrating on what OregonLive.com wouldn't report (bolds are mine):
Accused attacker has history of illegal entry into US
Sergio Jose Martinez's most recent removal from the US was in November 2016The man accused of violently attacking two women on Monday has a long history of being deported to Mexico and then illegally entering the United States, according to court records.
... According to court documents obtained by KOIN 6 News, Martinez’ arrest record began in 2003. He has been jailed in California and Oregon several times. At age 15, he completed a drug and alcohol treatment program in Texas.
Martinez moved to Portland within the last three years. He appears to be transient with no fixed address. He has used a Northwest Portland shelter as his mailing address. Martinez told officials that he picks up construction jobs to make money.
Martinez is a meth and marijuana user and told the sheriff’s office alcohol is his most serious addition.(sic) Earlier this year, he told jail staff that he consumes four to six 24 oz. beers per day. In the past, he said he has consumed as much as 10 beers per day.
... His criminal record is extensive.
In California, his conviction record includes:
2008 – Burglary
2010 – U.S. alien found in U.S. following deportation;
2014 – Parole violation
2015 – Battery, theft, and obstructing a public officer
2016 – Illegal entry into the U.S.“Defendant has entry/removal from United States to/from Mexico 20 times with at least 5 probation violations from re-entry,” according to court documents filed in March 2017.
His most recent removal from the United States was in November 2016, but it remains unknown when he re-entered the U.S.
... The county has issued 9 failure to appear warrants against Martinez since September 1986.
It's overwhelmingly likely that the Oregonian initially chose to withhold Martinez's 20 deportations, extensive criminal record, and long-term record of drug and alcohol addiction from its readers.
On the safe assumption that this is the case, we know why the Oregonian held out on reporting these details. Most of the left-leaning, open borders-supporting press doesn't want its audience to know the extent of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, the ease with which deported immigrants have waltzed back into this country for decades, and, especially in the case of sanctuary cities like Portland and sanctuary states like Oregon, how that status recklessly endangers their law-abiding citizens. If these things were more widely known, more people might be even more strongly in favor of stricter border controls, up to and including building the Donald Trump-advocated wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, than they already are. We can't have that.
In this instance, KOIN's interest appears to have been the result of Martinez's crimes leading to a manhunt with pursuit, which obviously makes for good breaking-news television. Nevertheless, the station should be applauded for its thorough and important follow-up, which appears to have finally motivated the Oregonian to do its job late Wednesday evening.
In other less visible circumstances, how often has the Oregonian deliberately chosen, as was clearly the case with Martinez, to keep relevant details about a perpetrator's illegal-immigration history and criminal record away from its audience? The disgraceful default answer at that paper, and at so many others around the country, is almost certainly: Very.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
