The Department of Homeland Security criticized The New York Times this week for writing a “sob story” about the plight of a deported murderer, and asked when the newspaper would start covering the victims of such horrendous crimes.
“The New York Times ran a sob story of Orville Etoria, an illegal alien from Jamaica and a convicted MURDERER,” the DHS news release began. “In addition to murder, this serial criminal’s rap sheet includes criminal possession of a weapon, armed robbery, and forcible theft with a deadly weapon.”
“Following his criminal convictions, Etoria’s green card was revoked,” the statement continued. “Etoria was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2009. Sixteen years later, this dangerous individual is finally off our streets and out of the country thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem. On July 17, he was deported.”
A DHS representative quoted in the release asked, “Why does the New York Times continue to peddle sob stories of criminal illegal aliens? When will they finally shed light on their victims?”
“Every single day President Trump and Secretary Noem fight for justice for American victims of illegal alien crime and nearly every single day the media ignores these victims and their families.”
The Times article published Tuesday, co-authored by reporters in Washington and South Africa, tried to paint Etoria as a model citizen who’d turned his life around. It claimed he pursued academic degrees while in prison and got a job at a shelter after being granted parole.
While serving a 25-year sentence for murder, Etoria was ordered deported by an immigration judge, the article reported. However, after his release in 2021, he was allowed to stay in the United States by the illegal immigrant-friendly Biden administration.
The article claimed Etoria had become a “target” of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The authors lamented how he wasn’t given access to an attorney after being deported to the southern African nation of Eswatini (a landlocked country formerly known as Swaziland).
It quoted Etoria’s aunt speaking about how “inhumane” his treatment was. Yet there were no quotes from the families of his victims. Why not?
The newspaper couldn’t completely ignore Etoria’s violent past, however, and was forced to finally list his litany of violent behavior. But most of it discussed was near the end of the piece.
In addition to “fatally shooting a man in the head in Brooklyn in 1996” and being convicted of murder, the article reported, Etoria “has a history of drug abuse, which he has blamed in part on head injuries he suffered as a child. He was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. Doctors noted that he has exhibited violent outbursts, hallucinations and paranoia, according to court records.”
If that wasn’t enough, he was reportedly “arrested in 1981 on charges of attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping,” according to the report.
Hellbound and Down 