On May 31, 2016, CNN aired a segment with reporter Pamela Brown embedded with a team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago as they arrested undocumented criminals.
“Just before the sun rises in the Windy City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fan out across Chicago to arrest criminals in the U.S. illegally. CNN was granted exclusive access to witness some of those raids,” Brown told viewers to kick off the segment, titled, “A day with ICE in the ‘Sanctuary City’ of Chicago.”
An ICE agent is then heard telling colleagues they had “three targets” in areas that are a “little sketchy,” as Brown noted that the operation began at 3 a.m. in order to catch the targets before they go to work. An ICE agent said that his adrenalin and blood pressure go up when “you’re getting ready to do something like this.”
CNN viewers were then told that ICE agents need to be as covert as possible when pulling off a raid before cameras caught them arresting the wrong man.
“This may look organized, but in this moment, confusion. ICE agents mistakenly arrest the target’s brother,” Brown told viewers.
In the end, the correct target was arrested. Then, CNN showed graphics on the screen that said ICE agents don’t agree with Cook County’s sanctuary city laws that say local police can’t work with federal immigration officials.
“ICE says the county ordinance creates a danger to the community by releasing undocumented criminals back onto the streets,” CNN told viewers with an on-screen graphic.
The segment went on to show ICE’s second target, who had been sent back to the U.S. with a fake identity after being taken out of the country.
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The target was shown being arrested as Brown informed viewers that ICE had surveillance on the person for “a while.”
“He’s going to be processed, they’re going to fingerprint him, ask him questions, and there is a whole process that goes into place before anyone is deported,” Brown said.
CNN then followed ICE agents who arrested their third target of the morning as his criminal history was explained to viewers.
“He is a criminal, he has extensive criminal history, and by taking him out of the community, it’s making the community safer and that’s ICE’s purpose,” the agent told viewers.
When ICE agents came up to a man at work, he tried to run away, but they let him go when they realized he wasn’t a target. Brown then took viewers inside an ICE processing center and talked to a man who was going to be deported.
The segment concluded with the following on-screen graphic: “On this day ICE detained 6 for possible deportation. 2 of them were released because they didn’t have criminal records.”
X account @mazemoore dug up and shared the video, noting that CNN didn’t appear critical of ICE at the time.
Since 2016, CNN has changed owners and managers many times. However, conservatives say that the ten-year-old segment shows how media outlets covered ICE more favorably under Obama than under Trump, when ICE has mostly been criticized for how it enforces immigration laws.
After an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week, the agency and its methods have come under even more scrutiny. The administration said that Good was trying to use her car as a weapon against the agent.
A lot of people went to X to share their thoughts on the CNN segment that was found. Ross Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times, said that the different tone of the media was interesting, but it also showed that ICE agents dressed and acted differently at the time.
