In a piece published Friday, I wondered if the "news" media and Democrats had walked into a trap on the "Maryland father" deportation case. As we've learned more about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the worse he looks as a poster child for the anti-Trump cause, and the more he looks like someone who should never be allowed to live in the United States again. I acknowledged some of the legal issues at play in this case, conceding some of the Trump critics' points, while also pointing out that because the left has decided to champion this particular man, they politically own him. Perhaps one way Democrats hope to avoid any negative consequences associated with rallying around a deeply flawed violent criminal alien is to rely upon ideologically-aligned journalists to simply ignore problematic facts and actively mislead the public about the nature and specifics of this controversy.
If that's their plan, an obsequious puff piece about Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen in Politico would certainly help vindicate their expectations of shameless media cooperation. Five different Politico reporters contributed to the article, which includes flat-out falsehoods, disputed claims presented as facts, and glaring, indefensible omissions. Let's review what they wrote, guided by a social media thread I published over the weekend:
(1) The piece asserts that Garcia is "a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration on erroneous charges of gang membership" (emphasis mine). In fact, DHS has supplied the following evidence of Garcia's gang affiliation:
1. When Garcia was arrested, he was found with rolls of cash and drugs.
2. He was arrested with two other members of MS-13.
3. When arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with roles of money covering the ears, mouth, and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations. This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil.
4. Two judges found that he was a member of MS-13. That finding has not been disturbed.
7. He claimed fear of being returned to El Salvador because he would be persecuted by MS-13's rival gang, Barrio-18.
Click through for the full memo, including screenshots of various supporting court and legal documents. A Maryland gang unit came to the same conclusion about Garcia's MS-13 association. It might be fair to write that this man has been credibly accused of being – and in fact adjudicated as being (during his multiple rounds of due process) – a member of MS-13, but his advocates deny it. But ignoring the numerous elements of evidence against him in order to call the gang membership allegation "erroneous" is itself erroneous.
(2) Before being deported to his home country, Garcia was indisputably unlawfully present in the United States. He was an illegal immigrant. This is an established fact. He did not have a right to be here, and indeed had a removal order against him. None of this information appeared anywhere in Politico's story. Instead, Garcia was described as a "Maryland resident" and a Van Hollen "constituent." The only time the word "illegal" appears in the article is in a quote from Van Hollen attacking the Trump administration. The left's preferred "undocumented" euphemism is also nowhere to be found. Very basic, fundamental information about this case was withheld by these reporters and their editors. This is not journalism. In some ways, it's anti-journalism.
(3) Readers of the article were also left entirely in the dark about the spousal abuse allegations against Garcia, which resulted in at least two protective orders being issued against him. The man had many interactions and intersections with police and courts during his lengthy illegal stay in our country. Politico also chose to mention neither his arrest with cash and drugs, nor his highly suspicious encounter with Tennessee police, which sparked credible human trafficking suspicions (beyond the illegal activity of driving without a valid license). Even if one doesn't believe the gang affiliation findings, or the thinks the trafficking accusations are too thin, or wants to overlook the violent spousal abuse, all of that is in addition to the simple fact that Garcia is an illegal immigrant and does not have a right to be here in the first place.
(4) These two excerpts merit scrutiny:
…also, what on earth is this? Politico’s team is framing a US Senator visiting El Salvador as taking some sort of a valiant “personal safety risk”? The State Department recently downgraded its travel advisory to that country to the lowest available level. Even if you hate how… pic.twitter.com/mhB0zS4bq1
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 19, 2025
"Even if you hate how he’s done it, Bukele has made his country much, much safer, having aggressively broken the rape and murder gangs that used to rule the streets," my post continued. "Presenting Van Hollen as a courageous hero who put his own physical safety on the line to defy Trump is cringeworthy."
(5) Finally, if Patty Morin hoped to shame media outlets into covering an angle to this story – her senator's disparate treatment of a wife-beating, adjudicated gang member illegal immigrant who'd lived for a time in Maryland, versus an American citizen and mother of five (her daughter Rachel) who was viciously raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in Maryland – that effort failed. Van Hollen has gone to great lengths, made many statements, and answered many questions in "solidarity" with the illegal immigrant in question. By contrast, his office put out a brief statement about the savage killing of Rachel Morin, an actual constituent of his, at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Politico's piece was packed with effusive quotes about Van Hollen from fellow Democrats and leftist activists. Patty Morin, and her valid disgust at the gap in priorities on display, didn't make the cut.
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this article could have been produced by Van Hollen's Senate press shop. And even they may not have gone quite as far, in some respects. I'll leave you with this:
You can literally watch Van Hollen’s stunt blow up in his face in real time.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) April 20, 2025
If you’re saying his membership in MS-13 is a “distraction” and you’re “not going to get into the details” you know you’ve already lost the plot. https://t.co/YqiKiUI8Mm
Join the conversation as a VIP Member