The Spokesman-Review’s shockingly one-sided news report goes all in for a twice-convicted felon and illegal immigrant previously accused of rape, assault, and domestic violence—yet you’d never know about his criminal past from the headline or the first half of the piece. Clever omission or sloppy journalism? You decide.
The report by Thomas Clouse and Alexandra Duggan is titled, “Man without a country: ICE arrests Spokane resident brought to America as toddler.” It’s meant to elicit outrage and compassion.
How could the evil Trump administration do this to an innocent man, 35-year-old Martin R. Diaz, who was brought here as a child? Indeed, the article spends 485 words focused on President Donald Trump’s promise to “swiftly and aggressively deport immigrants with criminal records during his campaign and after the election, although some deportations included a child with cancer and a man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, mistakenly deported to El Salvador that the administration has refused to bring back.”
It only took 1,259 words—or 42 article paragraphs—before you learn why he’s being deported.
Here’s why Garcia has an ‘order of removal’
The Spokesman-Review reports that he was charged with third-degree rape in 2007. He later pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and spent two months in jail. It prompted his “order of removal.” Diaz took his case to a court to have the removal order vacated, but lost.
Diaz then earned a second felony conviction ten years later for domestic violence against the father of his ex-wife. The Spokesman-Review describes the two serious felony convictions by saying they “further complicated efforts to get legal status,” as if that shouldn’t be the case. Diaz’s defense attorney called them “common” offenses that are “street-level minor in the world of big offenses.”
The local and national outlets that picked up the story hope to turn this into Washington’s version of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They just don’t realize that this is a good comparison for all the wrong reasons.
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Local and national media treat this like they’re treating Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
Like Abrego Garcia, Diaz is the bad guy deserving of deportation. The Radical Left just doesn’t want us to realize it. And the left-wing media partisans covering this story don’t want to admit it.
KUOW passively mentions “previous convictions” before downplaying the seriousness of the charges. KGW-TV and Newsweek offered the exact same treatment. Similarly, KXLY-TV framed Diaz as the victim with a report titled, “‘He’s a human being’: Spokane man arrested in his front yard by Border Patrol agents.”
Deportation can feel harsh in some cases, but far more often it’s plainly deserved—you have no right to live here illegally. Even those brought here as children earn the same fate if they squander the privilege and rack up felony convictions.
Diaz was offered due process. He navigated the criminal justice system. He lost and has been ordered for removal. Democrats, and their media allies, are left without anymore excuses as to why this man shouldn’t be deported, so they’re trying to emotionally manipulate their readers, listeners, and viewers.
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