NBC News is under fire for spreading a misleading ICE story that falsely accused federal agents of using a five-year-old autistic girl “to pressure her father to surrender.” In reality, ICE says the child’s father, Edward Hip Mejia—a Guatemalan national living illegally in the U.S. for 20 years—abandoned her while fleeing arrest.
NBC’s original headline, “ICE held 5-year-old autistic girl in Massachusetts to pressure father to surrender, family says,” was quietly corrected hours later. The outlet admitted its story “mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents.” But Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) amplified the false narrative on X, writing, “This is vile and beyond cruel. Abolish ICE,” and has left her post online even after NBC deleted its own.
According to DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, Mejia “ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house. He fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house. He abandoned his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.”
McLaughlin also revealed Mejia’s past arrests for domestic abuse and strangulation, details NBC omitted. She added, “ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait.’ Disgusting smears like these peddled by the media are leading to a 1000% increase in assaults against our brave law enforcement.”
As anti-ICE violence rises—including this week’s deadly Dallas shooting—Vice President J.D. Vance warned, “The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop.”
