The Patriot Post® · Immigration: The Real and Fake News

Last Friday, the Associated Press ran a story with the following headline, “Trump weighs mobilizing Nat Guard for immigration round up.” The article based this accusation on a Department of Homeland Security draft proposal memo it had obtained, which, the AP claimed, amounted to Donald Trump considering a mobilization of upwards of 100,000 National Guard troops to enforce the mass round up of illegal immigrants in at least 11 states. Predictably, the social media world went into hysterics, with some suggesting this had the familiar shades of the Nazis. Conveniently, the AP failed to link to the memo it was referencing.

DHS responded to the story stating, “The report referenced by the AP was a very early, pre-decisional draft that never made it to the secretary.” The DHS also emphasized that the draft was “never seriously considered.” It never made it to Trump’s desk or even Secretary John Kelly’s. But the AP’s reporting on the document was itself factually inaccurate. The document never mentions “deportations” nor does it suggest a “nationalizing” of the National Guard, it never suggests 100,000 troops — or any number for that matter. In summary, the AP story was wrong on both the contextual significance of the memo and its actual content.

A word to the AP: Try the novel concept of waiting for Trump to actually sign a new executive order before presenting as fact what amounts to mere speculative gossip. Trump plans on signing a new immigration enforcement order this week. CBS’s John Dickerson was right to conclude that the American public’s distrust of the mainstream media is not the fault of Trump, but is of their own doing.