The Phoenix New Times published a supposedly shocking story this week implying that members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency targeted an undocumented transgender person in Arizona.
As it turns out, though, the supposed victim in this story also has two outstanding assault warrants. This is not even mentioned until the 11th paragraph of the article in question.
Which makes you wonder — why was this written in the first place, if not for the rage-clicks? There is no good reason to bury information directly pertinent to the individual’s arrest and scheduled deportation unless, of course, burying it was the point all along.
The Phoenix New Times headline reads, “Transgender Woman Stepped Onto Light Rail Platform; She Ended Up in ICE Custody” (I link it so that you know the source — I do not encourage you to click and reward this type of journalism).
Sounds like we live in a police state, does it not?
“Phoenix cops arrested an undocumented transgender woman after questioning her for drinking iced tea at a light rail STATION without a ticket,” tweeted Phoenix New Times’ staff writer Steven Hsieh.
He added, “Now Naomi Rosales Ramirez is awaiting deportation. She’s been in the U.S. for nearly 3 decades.”
Phoenix cops arrested an undocumented transgender woman after questioning her for drinking iced tea at a light rail STATION without a ticket.
Now Naomi Rosales Ramirez is awaiting deportation. She’s been in the U.S. for nearly 3 decades. https://t.co/d5iWw9yq3O via @HannaCritch
— Steven Hsieh (@stevenjhsieh) August 29, 2019
Here is how the story opens (stick with it; it takes a while for it to get going):
Ramirez, an undocumented transgender woman, has spent almost her entire life in the United States, emigrating with her father when she was just 5 years old. She transitioned in Phoenix, graduating from North High School; as an adult, she performed at drag fundraisers, raising money for the local LGBTQ community. Until last month, she was her mother’s roommate, caretaker, and source of solace. She’s still her closest friend.
But today, Ramirez sits in a detention center in Eloy, surrounded by men in an all-male facility. Ramirez is poised to be sent back to Mexico — a country of which she has few memories — because of a series of local policies that created a fast-track deportation process, moving her from a Phoenix light rail station to ICE custody within 24 hours.
She’s scared of where she is, and, as she anticipates being sent to a country that’s increasingly hostile toward transgender women, even more scared of where she’ll go.
And It all started with a step onto a platform for a train she never intended to ride, and a missing $2 ticket.
The reader is now good and primed to be sympathetic toward Ramirez.
The story continues, explaining that the transgender person was caught by Phoenix Police Department officers in July illegally milling about a light rail station with a friend. A 2017 ordinance made it illegal to sit or stand on a light rail platform without a ticket (even if one is just there to see off a friend, which Ramirez was reportedly there to do). Law enforcement officers allegedly stopped the duo because they mistook their open cans of ice tea for alcohol. However, even after it was made clear the two individuals were not openly drinking on the platform, a law enforcement official discovered anyway that Ramirez did not have a ticket, a clear violation of the 2017 ordinance.
Then comes the 11th paragraph in which the following is reported:
They had to book her into Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office custody. […] After officers found the warrant, Ramirez was arrested and taken to Fourth Avenue Jail, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement was waiting for her.
Here is a crazy thought: Perhaps the reader should know about the outstanding warrants a little sooner so that it does not sound like people get arrested just for being transgendered.
Perhaps details of Ramirez’s criminal history are germane to a story about Ramirez being detained and slated for deportation.
But what do I know?
It is crazy that supposed journalists keep pumping out garbage like this, considering there are legitimately awful things happening at detention facilities near the U.S./Mexico border. You do not need to make up stories or even embellish the truth to argue some U.S. immigration officials are badly abusing their positions and authority. The facts are right there for the reporting, ripe for the picking!
What good reason is there to misrepresent the truth in order to cast ICE and similar groups in a bad light? Is it impatience? Laziness? Maybe the truth just is not sexy enough for certain U.S. journalists.
(h/t Luke Thompson)
