It’s been a minute, but The New York Times is back with a couple of articles meant to assist in blocking the deportation of every single illegal alien in the country, even if it means excusing their reckless, dangerous conduct.
The Times on Monday revisited the mid-January Minneapolis ICE shooting of a Venezuelan, Julio Sosa-Celis, who was illegally in the U.S. and apparently tried to help a roommate — Alfredo Aljorna — fleeing from authorities who were attempting to detain him for deportation. Referring to newly published surveillance video of the incident, the Times said the footage “contradicts the [ICE] agent’s claim that three assailants had beaten him with a shovel and broom for roughly three minutes before he opened fire.” The paper helpfully explained that what actually took place was a “confrontation” that “lasts about 12 seconds and shows two men struggling with the agent” and that “it shows no sustained attack with a shovel.”
As is often the case in controversies like this, the video published by the Times is about as clear as a glass of tap water in New Delhi. Much of what happens is indecipherable, though it appears that the car Aljorna was driving slammed into a curb or snow pile or perhaps another parked vehicle in a neighborhood. Another man, Sosa-Celis, Aljorna’s friend (also in the country illegally), is seen standing in a nearby yard holding what looks like a shovel. Aljorna exited his car and began to run as the ICE agent pulled up from behind. The agent began pursuing him on foot when Aljorna happened to fall.
Just before this, Sosa-Celis appeared to drop what was in his hand as he started moving away, but he doubled back and seemed to bend down toward the ground, perhaps retrieving what he might have dropped. After Aljorna fell, the agent chasing him caught up, and it looked like he threw himself atop Aljorna. At that point, it’s virtually impossible to tell what’s happening, but eventually it is clear that all three men are in frame, meaning the agent, engaged in a dangerous chase, is now outnumbered by two men in the country illegally, attempting to evade arrest.
It’s unclear whether the agent was assaulted by hand or an object, as has been alleged, or if the three men had a nice exchange about the weather before the agent ultimately shot Sosa-Celis in the leg. Federal prosecutors have moved to dismiss the case against the two. But here are facts not in dispute: Sosa-Celis broke the law when he, according to DHS, entered this country without authorization; Aljorna entered illegally as well, DHS noted, and he also broke the law when he remained in this country after being ordered to leave and when he fled authorities attempting to detain him.
Aljorna also put lives at risk when he floored it in his car, speeding through a neighborhood — his own life, the agent’s, and the lives of any pedestrians who might have been in the vicinity. And now he’s still trying to stay in this country, according to his lawyer, by possibly pressing charges against the agent who attempted to detain him.
Amazing.
Another recent article in the Times tells the story of a newly married couple, Matthew Blank and Annie Ramos, an American Army sergeant and a Honduran national, respectively. Though the two had just tied the knot, knowing full well that Ramos was still an illegal alien in need of a green card, Blank brought her onto a U.S. military base, attempting to secure her residency on the base as well as military spousal benefits.
The fact that anyone thought that was a bright idea should earn the episode status as the Eighth World Wonder.
Ramos was sent to a detention center to be deported because she had broken the law. But because Ramos was, as the Times put, a “Newlywed Spouse of [a] Soldier Training to Deploy,” we’re supposed to skirt that detail, just like it’s not supposed to matter when a Venezuelan puts the physical safety of others at risk because a grainy video may not technically, exactly have shown him or his friend bludgeoning an ICE agent with a shovel.
Anything to prevent a single deportation.
