LA’s KTLA 5 Botches a Story on ICE

As everyone knows by now, Los Angeles has seen several nights of rioting followed by the imposition of a curfew in an attempt to tone down the reaction to ICE arrests of criminal illegal aliens in the city.

In the midst of all that, yesterday KTLA 5 in Los Angeles published a report titled “DHS Secretary Kristi Noem attends ICE raid at home of pregnant L.A. County mother.” That headline is true so far as it goes. Sec. Noem was present during an ICE operation and the woman who lives in the home is pregnant. In fact, she mentioned this operation later during the press conference that was interrupted by Sen. Padilla. What’s striking about the KTLA story is all the information that it leaves out.

A pregnant Huntington Park mother of four was shocked to see around a half-dozen vehicles carrying heavily armed, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside her home Thursday morning and even more concerned when she spotted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem along for the raid.  

Sabrina Medina said she was in the shower at around 6 a.m. when her brother-in-law first saw the menacing presence in front of the family’s home…

Medina, a U.S. citizen, said she looked out the window and saw 10 men dressed in tactical military gear, all of them carrying rifles…

According to Medina, the agents told her to exit her home with her children. Standing in the driveway, they showed her a warrant for her husband, his name listed as David Garcia.

Not included in the story is any indication of why ICE was looking for her husband. This seems like a pretty obvious question for KTLA to ask in a story abut the attempt to arrest him. 

The video version of this story does mention that the husband had been previously deported and was in the country illegally. That by itself could be a felony but there’s more. We’re also told that the family had a heads up the night before when they saw a van of federal agents drive past the house. Is this why the husband was absent the next morning? KTLA either didn’t ask or isn’t saying.

In any case Fox News’ Bill Melugin, who was present at this particular operation, filled in the missing gaps.

I was at this operation with Noem. It wasn’t targeting a “pregnant mother”, it was targeting her previously deported illegal alien Mexican husband who had been convicted of drug trafficking in February & had an attempted murder charge pleaded down to an assault conviction. ICE… https://t.co/NqxMGTDWkn

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 13, 2025

I was at this operation with Noem. It wasn’t targeting a “pregnant mother”, it was targeting her previously deported illegal alien Mexican husband who had been convicted of drug trafficking in February & had an attempted murder charge pleaded down to an assault conviction. ICE had a criminal judicial warrant for his arrest, signed off on by a federal judge, because he illegally re-entered the U.S. after removal, which is a felony. 

Of course, none of that context is in @KTLA reporting here as they only spoke to his wife, who apparently *shockingly* didn’t disclose any of his criminal history.

So he was convicted of trafficking drugs four months ago and also was involved in a violent crime. Do you think that’s relevant here? 

Of course it is. It explains why ICE is looking to arrest and deport him. Is there any chance his wife didn’t know about is recent conviction? Not likely. She just kept that to herself and KTLA helped her spread a misleading version of events stripped of the important details. 

L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn also got involved. She visited the neighborhood after hearing about the operation. “I’m very disappointed in this government right now and what they’re doing,” she told KTLA.

DHS labeled the story “Fake News.”

FAKE NEWS. At this house was an illegal alien from Mexico who had previously been deported. His criminal history includes drug trafficking and assault.

ICE had a warrant for his arrest. https://t.co/YtVtNhjoqE

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 13, 2025

Again, the headline wasn’t fake exactly but they story certainly left out everything that mattered as far as explaining what ICE was doing there. With reporting like this it’s no wonder people in LA are angry.