Fox 31, conservative media figures exploit deaths of three to replay immigration myths and falsehoods

Summary: Several Colorado media outlets and personalities uncritically repeated immigration-related falsehoods in their reporting or commentary regarding a fatal traffic accident allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant who reportedly was arrested 16 times but never deported. Newsradio 850 KOA's "Gunny" Bob Newman parroted the unsubstantiated assertion that illegal immigrants kill 12 Americans every day, KDVR Fox 31 aired the baseless claim that "25 to 30 percent of the entire inmate population in most jails are aliens subject to deportation," and columnist Chuck Green in The Pueblo Chieftain and the Aurora Sentinel repeated the myth that Colorado is a "sanctuary state" and Denver is a "sanctuary city."

In reporting and discussing issues related to the deaths of three people in a September 4 auto accident allegedly caused by Francis Hernandez, an illegal immigrant reportedly arrested 16 times in Colorado but never deported, KDVR Fox 31, Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman, and conservative columnist Chuck Green uncritically repeated several falsehoods, including the unsubstantiated claim that illegal immigrants kill 12 Americans every day and the myth that Colorado is a "sanctuary state."

In an "In Depth" report about Hernandez's immigration status on the September 8 broadcast of Fox 31's Fox News at Nine O'Clock, reporter Sari Padorr uncritically allowed "former ICE agent Mike Riebau" to claim baselessly that "25 to 30 percent of the entire inmate population in most jails are aliens subject to deportation." Neither Padorr nor Riebau cited evidence for the claim. However, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics' June 2008 report, "Jail Inmates at Midyear 2007," noncitizens (legal and illegal immigrants) comprised 7.7 percent of the U.S. inmate population in 2,416 jurisdictions that reported "on the number of confined non-U.S. citizens." The report further noted that "[m]ost jail jurisdictions (84%) reported whether the jail population included non-U.S. citizens." Moreover, the report showed that, at midyear 2007, persons being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comprised 2.2 percent of the inmate population in 2,713 jurisdictions reporting "on confined person being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Fox 31 also failed to identify Riebau as a consultant and a spokesperson for the Cory Legal Defense fund, as Colorado Media Matters has noted. The fund supported ICE agent Cory Voorhis, who was accused of illegally accessing the National Crime Information Center database to obtain information that the gubernatorial campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez (R) used in an October 2006 television ad attacking now-Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) record of prosecuting illegal alien criminals as Denver district attorney. Voorhis was acquitted on April 9. Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous examples of Riebau dispensing inaccurate information about the Voorhis case in the local media.

Discussing Hernandez on the September 9 broadcast of his KOA program, Newman repeated the unsubstantiated claim that "[t]welve Americans [are] killed every day by illegal aliens in this country. That's 4400 -- just under 4400 a year. Since 9-11, that's nearly 22,000 Americans who are supposed to be alive today, who were killed by illegal aliens here in our country." As Colorado Media Matters pointed out, Newman made the same claim on his December 14, 2006, broadcast. Newman provided no source for his claim, although, as in the past, it appeared to be based on Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) dubious 2006 claim that illegal immigrants murder 12 Americans each day and kill 13 each day as a result of drunken-driving accidents, for a total of 25 deaths per day.

As Colorado Media Matters repeatedly has noted, King misleadingly "extrapolate[d]" figures from an April 2005 Government Accountability Office study to formulate the questionable statistic regarding the number of deaths caused by illegal immigrants. The GAO report itself made no such claim.

Discussing the accident in his column, which was published online September 10 in The Pueblo Chieftain and the Aurora Sentinel, Green stated that Hernandez "was in the United States illegally, guarded by the sanctuary policies" of President Bush, Ritter, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper:

You might think there isn't enough blood to go around -- enough to cover the hands of President George W. Bush, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

But not to worry. There's plenty.

There's the blood of 3-year-old Marten Kudlis, a little boy who was enjoying some ice cream with his mother when he suddenly was dragged to his death by a vehicle that crashed through the ice-cream parlor window.

There's the blood of 51-year-old Debbie Serecky, the devoted mother of seven sons and daughters in a blended family.

And there's the blood of Debbie's best friend, 49-year-old Patricia Guntharp, whose two small granddaughters call her "Care Bear."

Bush, Ritter and Hickenlooper each can claim one of the bodies, and wash their hands in the blood of the victims.

All three public officials have declared the nation, the state and the city as a "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants who sneak into the United States and enjoy a protective shield from criminal prosecution -- until they finally kill someone, or some three.

The little boy and two women were killed last week by Francis M. Hernandez, Francisco Hernandez, Ricky Perez, Francis Maudariel, Francis Medanial, Frank Hernandez, who says he was born in California, Mexico, and Guatemala.

He says he is 23 years old, but nobody can be sure when he was born, or where, or under what name.

He was in the United States illegally, guarded by the sanctuary policies of Bush, Ritter and Hickenlooper.

[...]

Although his case is more dramatic than most, it is not unusual in Colorado. Even though police in Aurora insist they detained Hernandez for immigration violations after the July 18 arrests, federal agents didn't pick him up before release -- a common occurrence according to Aurora records.

George Bush's sanctuary nation.

Although his repeated record of arrests should have landed him in prison long ago, he was a free man -- a common occurrence in Bill Ritter's sanctuary state.

And although many of his arrests were in Denver -- including the July 16 offenses -- he was not detained for federal immigration agents -- a common occurrence in John Hickenlooper's sanctuary city.

Yes, there is plenty of blood to go around, not just in this case but in hundreds of similar cases around the country.

But the blood also is on our hands -- all of us, for tolerating the policies of Bush, Ritter, Hickenlooper and thousands of other public officials who endorse sanctuary policies.

As Colorado Media Matters noted when Green, in a January 2007 column, claimed that "Colorado already is gaining status as a 'sanctuary city' where illegal immigrants are virtually immune from the law," a Colorado statute enacted May 1, 2006, prohibits sanctuary policies, which the statute defines as "local government ordinances or policies that prohibit local officials, including peace officers, from communicating or cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of any person within the state."

Colorado Media Matters also has noted repeatedly that Denver is not a sanctuary city, according to numerous sources including ICE and the Congressional Research Service (CRS). No Colorado jurisdiction appeared in a 2006 CRS report about immigration law listing "[c]ities and counties currently that have sanctuary policies." CRS singled out Colorado in its August 30, 2007, update to the report as a jurisdiction that has "taken steps to reject what they characterize as 'sanctuary policies.' "

Moreover, the Denver Police Department Operations Manual (updated July 30, 2008) explicitly directs that "when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the [Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement] authorities according to their procedures."

From the September 8 broadcast of KDVR Fox 31's Fox News at Nine O'Clock:

LELAND VITTERT (anchor): He's accused of killing three people, including a little boy inside an ice cream shop. And tonight we know 23-year-old Francis Hernandez was in this country illegally and has a rap sheet that reads like a novel. Hernandez's family ran from reporters today after hearing he faces a long list of charges, including vehicular homicide. But we wanted to know how he got out of jail after all those arrests to be back on the road last week. "In Depth" tonight, Fox 31's Sari Padorr found out it's just part of a much bigger problem. Sari.

PADORR: Leland, Francis Hernandez made his first appearance in court today, but it was not the first time he's been in a courtroom. He has a lengthy criminal record, but somehow has managed to avoid anybody looking into his immigration status.

[begin video clip]

PADORR: Eleven different aliases, four different birthplaces.

RIEBAU: He's basically masquerading as a U.S. citizen.

PADORR: But, in fact, 23-year-old Francis Hernandez was born in Guatemala, and authorities say he's here illegally. So how could he have been arrested 16 times and never deported? Aurora police say it wasn't for a lack of trying. They arrested him on April 25th and sent him to the Arapahoe County Jail.

BOB FRIEL (Aurora police spokesman): A request for assistance from ICE was made. The request was to ask them to look into Hernandez's immigration status, and there was no response on the part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

PADORR: So he bonded out.

RIEBAU: And then they're gone.

PADORR: No forwarding address. It's a situation former ICE agent Mike Riebau knows well.

RIEBAU: 25 to 30 percent of the entire inmate population in most jails are aliens subject to deportation.

PADORR: Many fall through the cracks. Mostly, Riebau says, because of the lack of agents to process them, coupled with an old reporting system that forces agents to fill out 14-page forms on each illegal immigrant.

RIEBAU: An agent is very lucky if he can write up three to four aliens in an entire eight-hour shift with this very laborious computer data system.

PADORR: By the time the agent returns to process more the next day, some of those inmates have bonded out.

RIEBAU: They know the system, and they know, get your bond posted as fast as you can to avoid immigration.

[end video clip]

PADORR: Obviously, there is frustration at the federal level as well as the local level. Aurora police say they've contacted ICE more than 2500 times about inmates and their immigration status, and they say ICE has responded only a small fraction of the time. Back to you.

From the September 9 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: Do you have something to say about this? Three-year-old Marten Kudlis is dead; Patricia Guntharp is dead; Debra Serecky is dead. And it's all because Francis Hernandez was ignored intentionally by certain people and certain agencies and policies within our government. That's the reason they're gone. And it starts in the White House, and it ends up in our governor's mansion, and ends up in our state legislature. And there are those in between that are also complicit in this dereliction of duty. I want to hear from you this evening. 303-713-8585, on Gunny Bob on Newsradio 850 KOA.

The numbers are mind-boggling. We'll go to the phones here in just a second, everybody, but listen to this: Twelve Americans killed every day by illegal aliens in this country. That's 4400 -- just under 4400 a year. Since 9-11, that's nearly 22,000 Americans who are supposed to be alive today, who were killed by illegal aliens here in our country. We've lost, at the hands of the enemy, about 3,000 troops in the war on terror.

Now, think about this. We've lost about 3,000 troops to terrorists -- directly to terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq -- and we've lost nearly 22,000 Americans here at home to illegal aliens. And I hear the liberals screaming, "We must retreat; we must surrender to Al Qaeda. They're killing our people." But I don't hear the same liberals saying, you know, "What are we gonna do about the 22,000 Americans that have been killed here in our country by illegal aliens?" The hypocrisy is palpable, and they know it. And they're layin' low right now. We're gonna drag 'em outta their festering little pus-filled hole, and we're gonna hopefully make them accountable for their dereliction of duty.

—C. H.