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'Maryland man' is the sort of thing that cost the media its credibility

13 16
21.04.2025

Is there anything more useless than a journalist who deliberately muddles crucial facts?

Perhaps a four-cornered wheel?

The latest example of our press being supremely unhelpful comes in the form of one Salvadoran national named Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom ICE officials and deported to a Salvadoran prison earlier this year, against orders from a U.S. court.

The details of the case are complicated, both legally and morally, and, unfortunately, we don’t have a meticulous and thoughtful media to help readers develop informed opinions, giving them accurate descriptions and addressing obvious questions.

No one could blame you if your first brush with the coverage of Garcia's story left you with the impression that the Trump administration had wrongly arrested and deported a U.S. citizen.

Our media bizarrely insist on referring to Garcia, a Salvadoran national, as a “Maryland man.” But he is not a “Maryland man.” He is a Salvadoran national who has been living in the U.S. illegally since 2011, most recently residing in the state of Maryland. Yet you’d hardly know this from casually following the news.

The unwillingness to distinguish between lawful and unlawful immigration — or perhaps the inability to do so, based on political changes to journalistic style guides — seems to have corrupted the media's ability to tell this story at all.

“Outrage grows over Maryland man’s mistaken deportation to El Salvador prison,” reported the Associated Press.

Said the New York Times, “U.S. Renews........

© The Hill