Thread: ICE fires back: Fox 4 has "chosen to ignore the facts&a

ICE fires back: Fox 4 has "chosen to ignore the facts" in the Abel Arango case

http://www.fox4now.com/Global/story.asp?S=8728247

ICE fires back: Fox 4 has "chosen to ignore the facts" in the Abel Arango case




The office of Immigration and Customs enforcement is beginning to respond to a barrage of calls and e-mails from Fox 4 viewers. Those viewers are demanding answers about how criminal alien Abel Arango was allowed to slip through the cracks and remain on the streets, where, according to police and eyewitnesses, he eventually shot and killed Fort Myers Police Officer Andrew Widman. Our viewers began jamming ICE switchboards two nights ago (Tuesday, July 22), when we suggested to you that since ICE doesn't want to face our cameras and answer questions, these are your public servants, and maybe they'll talk to you. Two viewers have sent us the e-mails they received from Washington-based ICE press secretary Kelly Nantel. The responses are virtually identical. Nantel comes out of the corner swinging, saying ICE has already provided the "full facts" to Fox 4, that we "chose to ignore them." The e-mail goes on make a number of points ICE had previously made to us, the gist of which have been fully reported in our coverage. Indeed, Lisa Gundell, one of the viewers who received one of these form letters, wrote us, "I was already aware of most of what she said to me because of your reports." You can find the full text of ICE's form letter by following this link.

In the legal profession, ICE's opening volley is what is known as an "ad hominem attack." The idea is, if your case is going south and you have nothing to say to effectively respond to your opponent's points, you confuse the issue by making it personal, besmirching your adversary's competence or character. Nantel's blast is a continuation of the personal attack ICE regional Public Information Officer Barbara Gonzalez begaon on Tuesday, when she labelled Fox 4 reporter Tyisha Fernandes (one of the classiest and nicest ladies you could ever hope to meet) as unprofessional and classless for daring to show up without an appointment, after having been turned down for one.

Our reporting is out there for everyone to see, and we stand by it. Fox 4 is not ignoring the facts. ICE is ignoring the point. The point, once more, for the record, is this. We would like someone in authority at ICE to come out from their fenced-in, guarded compounds, quit hiding behind press officers and their carefully prepared print statements and e-mails, and have a conversation with us on behalf of our viewers. We'd like someone in real authority -- an actual decision maker with actual responsibility -- to share their views and expertise with our viewers in a free-ranging, open discussion about what, if anything, went wrong, what we've learned from it, and what, if any, corrective action needs to be taken. This is a concept known as accountability. It's something citizens in a democracy have a right to expect from those in power.

It's also a concept that appeared to alarm Press Secretary Nantel when we mentioned it to her yesterday. One can understand, really, what ICE is afraid of. Politics is an ugly game. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Still, it's how we do things in America. It's the method we have chosen as a society to work through our problems. Democracy -- embrace the concept. In our case, Fox 4 has no interest in embarrassing, berating or beating up on ICE or anyone else. We just want to explore solutions, calmly and professionally, for our viewers with the people who are charged with keeping us safe -- and being a TV news outlet, we'd like to do this on TV, using a camera and microphone, so that our viewers can hear from these officials in person. But Nantel gave us a hint yesterday of her real concern. She told us ICE has no interest in going on television to "point fingers at our law enforcement partners." Now we begin to see what is really going on. But come on, ICE. If there is a communications breakdown of some sort between you and other agencies that's posing a threat to public safety, this issue needs to be discussed, vetted and thoroughly aired out. The public servants at ICE should have enough commitment to public service, enough moral courage, and enough common decency to assist with this process. Quite literally, this is a life and death matter. If ICE doesn't believe it, that's because its Washington-based bureaucrats weren't here in Southwest Florida to watch 2,500 people bury a fine young man yesterday who died trying to protect us -- an event so important that not one but three television stations chose to carry it live.

Nantel says the "person in authority" you want to speak with is:

Michael Rozos
Special Agent in Charge of Investigations
954-545-6037
Email: michael.rozos@dhs.gov

She says you are welcome to call or e-mail him. But Nantel also says, Rozos won't take your call or return it, and won't respond to your e-mail. Instead, he'll relay it to her for response. So if you'd like to get one of her form letters for your very own, please contact him. We hope that you do. Past experience shows that if the bureaucrats' phones ring enough, good things are prone to happen. By contrast, if they don't ring, those in charge get to assume that people don't care, that the storm is over, and they've weathered it successfully.

Related story:
Fox 4 viewers jam ICE phones, demanding answers in the Widman murder
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-124656-widman.html

dragonfire

just a thought, you may want to add this to the thread you posted yesterday as an update to this great story. Keeps it flowing so everyone who posted a reply can see the update and comment.



original thread at
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-124656-0.html

Originally Posted by jimpasz

dragonfire

just a thought, you may want to add this to the thread you posted yesterday as an update to this great story. Keeps it flowing so everyone who posted a reply can see the update and comment.



original thread at
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-124656-0.html

Thanks for catching that for me.

Fox 4 Viewers blast back at ICE: the form letter is not cutting it

http://www.fox4now.com/Global/story.asp?S=8729389

I didn’t know if I should post all the comments because of the length of the article.

I can post the entire article if any one can’t use the link.

The public is pretty hot over this.

Here are a couple of the comments:

Press Secretary Kelly Nantel's form letter fell flat with Fort Myers resident Cindy Kurcharski. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this e-mail from her: "Dear Kelly, thanks for the propaganda. How insulting to have a response from a press secretary. They should replace your unnecessary position with one more caseworker in Florida to hunt down illegals. I have written to all my federal elected officials regarding the fact that the law is perhaps inadequate. I would think that ICE employees would be sufficiently frustrated with the state of affairs that they would also be exerting pressure to effect changes in policy. The employees at ICE are at as much risk as the rest of the country from these violent offenders.... The fact remains that the federal government has NOT been enforcing the immigration laws for decades, and this is the end result. The taxpayers are getting pretty tired of paying the salaries of federal employees who are not doing their jobs... Thanks for your response, but you have done nothing to diminish the anger in SW Florida. I am sure as these 3 small kids grow up, their mother will explain to them that their father is absent because the immigration officials were "powerless" to deport the thug who killed their father, and the elected Congress were so damned busy playing politics, running for re-election, and investigating the oil company executives, they could not bother to pass laws that would save lives of innocent Americans.... By the way, Fox4 did not ignore the facts, I have read these facts you gave them on their website. Don't blame the media for the failure of DHS to provide homeland security."

Donald Shallow of Ft. Myers wrote: "I wrote to Bill O'Reilly tonight to inform him of this sad story.... Maybe you have more pull to get this story to him. I feel this is a national outrage and needs the pressure of the national media... No one should go through what this poor family is going through."

Taking that suggestion, we have referred the issue to O'Reilly's producers, but can't say yet whether he'll pick it up.