Over the last few days, leftists on social media got spun up over an alleged immigration-related abuse by the Trump administration, screaming about an American citizen being wrongfully detained. I'll say this: If an actual citizen of the United States had indeed been victimized by a wrongful immigration detention, that would represent solid grounds for concern and criticism. It would certainly be more politically sound than aggressively going to bat for, say, an illegal immigrant who is also a credibly accused wife beater and a twice-adjudicated gang member. But as it turns out, based on the available evidence, this latest outrage was bogus. If you search the name 'Jose Hermosillo,' numerous headlines will pop up about a 19-year-old US citizen whose family said he was unjustly imprisoned for ten days by authorities.
How could such a thing happen? Well, this would be how, per official documents:
NEW: Here is a copy of the sworn statement signed by Jose Hermosillo. During questioning, which was done in Spanish, Hermosillo stated he:
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 21, 2025
-Was born in Mexico
-Was not a U.S. citizen
-Crossed the border illegally via the desert
-Wanted work
-Was in the U.S. illegally https://t.co/yR9L31XTYc pic.twitter.com/BCSZoStYjh
The Department of Homeland Security has also posted receipts related to bizarre set of circumstances:
On April 8, Jose Hermosillo approached Border Patrol in Tucson Arizona stating he had ILLEGALLY entered the U.S. and identified himself as a Mexican citizen. Border enforcement processed Mr. Hermosillo lawfully.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 21, 2025
Days later, his family presented documents showing proof of U.S.… pic.twitter.com/hzOlZtjlzn
DHS says that once this man's family furnished proof of his US citizenship, "the charges were dismissed and he was released. Mr. Hermosillo’s arrest and detention were a direct result of his own actions and statements." The whole thing is very strange, especially because the individual stated and attested that he was not a citizen. Via our former Townhall colleague, this factor may also have contributed to the confusion:
This could explain unanswered questions. There is a Jose Hermosillo, with same year of birth, who had a bond hearing on a domestic violence charge in Albuquerque one day before the reported Hermosillo was arrested by Border Patrol in AZ. https://t.co/LryqVcvzsh
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 21, 2025
I'm not sure how anyone operating in good faith could blame DHS for any of this, if the man told officers and signed paperwork asserting that he was not an American citizen and had entered US territory illegally. Once his fairly inexplicable incorrect claim was cleared up and disproven, the case against him was immediately dismissed and he was sent on his way. Then again, there are many people operating in bad faith on immigration-related controversies. Democrats who were complicit in mass lawlessness at the border for years cannot get enough of the Kilmar 'Maryland Father' Garcia whitewash. They're suddenly sticklers about the rule of law, they claim, after aggressively undermining it throughout a catastrophic border crisis. And they're notably uninterested in their poster child's record of violence and arrests, wrapping themselves -- cynically and without credibility -- in the banner of the "rule of law:"
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Hard to present yourself as a principled defender of “the rule of law” when you were complicit in mass-scale lawlessness at the border under the previous administration & have called for the defunding those who enforce the rule of law. https://t.co/Leqb5DZ3wq
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 21, 2025
Maxwell and other House Democrats are following in the footsteps of Sen. Chris Van Hollen's El Salvador stunt. House Republicans are 'encouraging' more of their colleagues to take a similar 'stand:'
House Republicans' campaign arm is offering to pay for more Democrats to travel to El Salvador in solidarity with an illegal immigrant, accused wife-beater, and twice-adjudcated gang member: pic.twitter.com/TtAEWiMKJ9
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 21, 2025
Perhaps they could generously finance a trip for Washington State Senator Patty Murray, who has lots to say about this case, but allegedly nothing to say about one of her own constituents -- an American veteran -- detained by the communist regime in Venezuela:
Exclusive: The father of a kidnapped Washington USAF veteran says Sen. Patty Murray is ignoring him — but fighting for Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) April 21, 2025
Click: https://t.co/2ZEr7Wg73F
Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray has used her platform to support bringing illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused gang member and wife abuser, back to the United States from El Salvador. But she seems wholly disinterested in helping bring home Joseph St. Clair, a United States Air Force veteran who did four tours in Afghanistan, who was abducted and jailed in Venezuela by the Maduro regime. “Nothing from Patty Murray at all. Not even a not even a form letter response,” Scott St. Clair, Joseph’s dad, explained in an exclusive interview on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH...Scott St. Clair, who lives in Hansville, Wash., says his son first went missing in November 2024, when Joseph was living in Colombia seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. It wasn’t until February when Scott St. Clair said he received a call from the consulate in Colombia informing him that the Maduro regime in Venezuela had abducted his son...While Scott St. Clair says Senator Maria Cantwell’s office eventually reached out to him on how to officially request help from the senator, it was Senator Patty Murray who ignored his requests for help. Yet Murray’s office has taken time to call attention to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was deported after the Trump administration said it learned of his ties to violent gang MS-13.
Like Patty Morin, this man is not of interest to one of his home state Democratic Senators, who clearly has other political priorities. I'll leave you with a few other non-troversies on this front:
She was detained because she tried to smuggle stuff into the US and lied to customs.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 22, 2025
Good grief, there are immigration issues you can complain about but this ain’t it. https://t.co/1sYaasDGPg
This is basic visa enforcement that every country on earth does.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) April 22, 2025
Being German and a teenager doesn’t change the law. pic.twitter.com/msaWmHdj32