California's liberal media has a habit of turning criminals into victims.
Now a Los Angeles ABC affiliate got caught doing exactly that – and left a paper trail.
DHS posted the proof on X – and what it shows about ABC's newsroom will leave you speechless.
ABC7 Used AI to Strip Criminal Records and Sanctuary City Failures From DHS Statement
ICE and CBP agents arrested three criminal illegal aliens outside the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse on April 9.
DHS sent ABC7 a detailed statement naming each man, listing each criminal record, and making clear that California sanctuary politicians had specifically blocked ICE detainers to keep these men on the streets.
An ABC7 staffer then emailed colleagues saying she "took the liberty of running it through AI asking that it be formatted for current journalist ethics and standards."
The staffer used it as a political editing tool – and the government's language came out scrubbed clean of inconvenient facts.
"Criminal illegal aliens" became "individuals."
"Criminal illegal alien" became "national."
The phrase "released by Biden" disappeared entirely.
DHS posted side-by-side screenshots on X and called it what it was: ABC7 used AI to "edit DHS statements to conform to their narrative bias," erased criminal backgrounds, and "shamelessly lied" by claiming DHS never responded to their inquiry.
The original print story was quietly updated to include the full DHS statement only after DHS publicly exposed the deception.
The Criminal Illegal Aliens California Sanctuary Politicians Refused to Hand Over to ICE
Godofredo Chiquete-Lopez entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2007 and simply never left – overstaying his authorization by more than 16 years.
San Bernardino County had him in custody after his arrest for assault with a deadly weapon and hit and run.
ICE issued a detainer.
Sanctuary politicians refused to honor it and released him back into the community.
Alexander Pacheco-Sabogal entered the country illegally, was released by the Biden administration in 2022 near San Luis, Arizona, was subsequently arrested for battery, was the subject of a second ICE detainer, and was ordered removed in 2023 after failing to show up for his own hearing.
California authorities refused to honor that detainer too.
Cesar Andres Mendez-Garzon crossed the border illegally in 2023, was released by Biden into the interior of the country, and was also ordered removed after failing to appear for his removal hearing.
Three men with criminal records, documented detainer refusals, and Biden-era releases — rewritten into anonymous "individuals" and "nationals."
How California Built a Legal Wall to Keep ICE Away From Criminal Illegal Aliens
DHS put the number in the statement ABC7 tried to bury: "7 of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE" — and California's sanctuary politicians are working overtime to make sure the state never joins that list.
Democrats in Sacramento spent years building a legal wall between ICE and local law enforcement – AB 32 bars immigration arrests inside courthouses, and state Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes is now pushing legislation to extend that buffer zone to 1,000 feet outside courthouse doors.
The goal is to make it physically impossible for federal agents to arrest the people those same local politicians already refused to turn over.
What ABC7 did with AI isn't an isolated newsroom error – it's the information arm of the same machine.
DHS has been calling out this pattern for over a year.
Their "100 Days of Fighting Fake News" report documented outlet after outlet softening criminal histories, omitting Biden-era releases, and building sympathy narratives around men with deportation orders and violent records.
ABC7 didn't invent the playbook.
They just automated it.
The footage from Rancho Cucamonga told the real story – one man ran from federal agents on foot before being tackled in the courthouse parking lot.
A man who runs from federal agents knows exactly why they're coming.
California's sanctuary politicians made that foot chase necessary.
ABC7's AI tried to make sure you'd never know who he was.
Sources:
- Randy Clark, "DHS: California ABC News Using AI to Push Bias, Bury Facts from Immigration Coverage," Breitbart, April 11, 2026.
- "Advocates Raise Alarm After Federal Arrests Near Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse," ABC7 Los Angeles, April 10, 2026.
- "Federal Agents Arrest People Outside Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse," NBC Los Angeles, April 9, 2026.
- "100 Days of Fighting Fake News," Department of Homeland Security, April 30, 2025.
- "DHS Debunks Fake News Demonizing ICE Officers, Sets the Record Straight on L.A. Operations," Department of Homeland Security, June 16, 2025.
