Wailing and gnashing of liberal teeth could be heard from our nation’s capital on Wednesday after police and federal agents detained an illegal immigrant on the National Mall. In the video below, the man exited his car as instructed and appeared calm. But inexplicably, a couple of seconds later, outnumbered by agents six to one, he tried to run away. As he was tackled to the ground by the officers, he cried out in Spanish, “Please, I’m not a criminal, I work here. I want to be with my family.”
NBC News reported that as he was placed inside an unmarked vehicle, he screamed, “My family has papers! My family and my children! Please! Please!”
It was quite a scene to say the least. The sound of this poor man’s anguish caused critics of President Donald Trump’s push to restore law and order in Washington, D.C., to lose their minds. And, rather than waiting to learn why he had been detained, video of his arrest went viral on social media.
Responding to Cho’s post on Instagram, one woman wrote, “’Yo no debo nada’, ‘I don’t owe anything.’ – A brown man pleading, for his humanity, for his dignity, stating he is not a criminal, is law abiding, works, is a family man. Just wants to be safe with his family. In his home.”
Another replied, “If you can watch this and not feel your heart being ripped out of your chest, you’re dead inside.”
“We are literally watching kidnappings,” wrote a third.
Perhaps the most reckless response came from Fox News’ token liberal, Jessica Tarlov, who attached the arrest video in a since-deleted post on X, along with the caption, “This doesn’t make D.C. safer. It’ll just make people not come to D.C. The cruelty is always the point.”
[I’ll return to Tarlov’s unfortunate tweet in a moment.]
Simply put, they thought they had found their next George Floyd or Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
But just as the progressive condemnation party had reached its peak, Cho posted an update. ICE had issued a statement which said that David Perez-Teofani, a Mexican national, was detained because he has entered the U.S. illegally three times and has a final order of removal.
Worse, Perez-Teofani was arrested in Fairfax County, Virginia, in January 2024, and charged with aggravated sexual battery against a minor under the age of 13.
Now it was the Republicans’ turn to pounce. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller asked Tarlov why she was defending a criminal illegal alien invader charged with sexually assaulting a child.
Tarlov replied to Miller that she “didn’t know he was” charged with sexually assaulting a child when she posted her tweet and said she would delete it.
After replying to Miller, she posted a new tweet to explain why she had deleted her original tweet.
That’s all well and good Jessica, but here’s a thought: why don’t you and your bleeding-heart friends make it your business to get the facts straight before you shoot from the hip?
Every time outrage erupts before anyone stops to ask the most basic questions, the result isn’t clarity — it’s chaos. These media-driven frenzies, amplified by knee-jerk reactions and social media echo chambers, don’t just spread misinformation; they inflame divisions, harden mistrust, and in the worst cases, light the match for real unrest.
History has shown again and again that a rush to judgment can carry dangerous consequences. If the goal is justice and truth, then the first responsibility is patience, discipline, and a willingness to wait for facts instead of feeding the flames.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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