Tipsheet

New York Times Story About Deported Drug Suspect Backfires Spectacularly on Social Media

A New York Times article details an illegal alien couple who were deported on a drug charge but snuck back across the border so their child would be born an American citizen. 

The paper tried to drum up sympathy for a couple who were deported to Honduras in 2025 after the man was charged with possession of cocaine. So the couple snuck back across the border so that the woman, who was six months pregnant, could give birth in the U.S. 

A grandparent had to take custody of the baby because the couple got caught. But the paper blamed the baby's separation from the mother and father on federal law instead of the couple who crossed the border illegally. 

The NYTimes story follows after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Trump v. Barbara about birthright citizenship, whether illegal aliens or citizens of foreign countries can give birth to an American citizen, because the birth happened on U.S. soil. 

The 14th Amendment says in part: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The story aimed to argue that the U.S. enforcing immigration laws is cruel, but many people said on social media that the story backfired.