Proof that ABC News is well suited to be a part of the "Mickey Mouse" network

Just when I thought I had seen it all, I was startled Thursday morning to hear that the ABC Network’s Good Morning America was promoting a segment scheduled to run on 20/20 on Friday, February 4th in which actors pose as security guards and others act as apparent illegal aliens from Mexico to see how patrons in a restaurant react to the security guard accosting the Mexican appearing customers in the restaurant. I have provided you with two accounts about this shameful “news report.” This is nothing more, in my view, than a thinly veiled effort to discredit the Arizona immigration law, SB 1070.  The shorter version appeared on Fox Nation and the longer version of the critique of this outrageous “news story” appeared on the Media Research Center.  (The Fox News article provided a link to the more thorough account posted by Media Research Center.) What is so incredible is the way that, in my judgment, ABC News played so fast and loose with the truth. Here are a couple of sentences lifted from the transcript of the discussion I heard on Thursday morning on Good Morning America:

ROBIN ROBERTS: Also this morning, imagine being threatened with deportation, even though you haven’t committed a crime and it’s all because of how you look. John Quinones goes undercover to Arizona’s controversial immigration law. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: His ultimate, “What would you do?”

Go back and re-read what Robin Roberts said:  “…imagine being threatened with deportation, even though you haven’t committed a crime and it’s all because of how you look…” ABC hired a make-believe security guard who conducted himself in a despicable fashion demands to see identification from patrons of a restaurant challenging them as to their immigration status.  Under what circumstances would any security guard challenge anyone to show identification in a public place? Under what circumstances could a security guard or even a police officer threaten a suspected illegal alien with deportation? It was apparent that the objective of this exercise in the bizarre was to make it appear that under the Arizona immigration law this sort of challenge would be appropriate, while nothing could be further from the truth. This ABC article for 20/20 is, in my judgment, irresponsible and calls into question the trustworthiness of the way that ABC portrays news stories. The immigration debate is a highly emotional debate.  In the wake of the shootings in Arizona which, incidentally, had nothing to do with so-called “hate speech” politicians. I find it upsetting that ABC would produce a story that could ignite strong reactions by creating a situation that bears no resemblance to reality. Most people, if asked about the First Amendment will, almost by reflex, say that the First Amendment is about “freedom of speech.”  Certainly freedom of speech is an important component of the First Amendment but what is important to consider are five simple words, “the right to peaceably assemble.” Certainly I cannot speak for the Founding Fathers, but when you consider that at the time our nation was founded, the only way that discourse could take place was if people met face to face.  There were no technological means to have discussion or discourse back then, so the very first amendment of our Constitution specifically included the right to peaceably assemble.  When a news organization twists the truth and spews falsehoods as was done in the ABC News article, grave damage is done.  There is absolutely no justification for doing this; it is yet another example of an editorial masquerading as a news report and the alleged “journalists” at ABC News should absolutely know better! The immigration laws of our nation and of Arizona do not include any sort of profiling component.  These laws are blind as to race, religions and ethnicity. The only distinction that our nation’s immigration laws make is between those who are citizens of our nation and those who are not. Those people who are not citizens are to be referred to by a term the open borders crowd hates- that term is “alien.”  An alien is defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act, as being any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. As an INS special agent I have certainly arrested illegal aliens from Mexico and Latin America. I have also arrested illegal aliens from Canada, Great Britain, Japan, China, Jamaica, Greece, Israel and nearly every other country on the planet. Other states are beginning to emulate Arizona in seeking to enact immigration laws that are similar to Arizona’s SB 1070.  The state of Indiana is now taking up an immigration law and many other states are following suit. I provided an extensive declaration to the law firm that Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer retained to defend her state against the lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice in an effort to prevent the state of Arizona enforcing our immigration laws. If you ultimately come to the conclusion that I am correct about how wrong ABC News was in producing this segment, I would ask that you write to the management at ABC News and to their parent company, Disney, and let them know how you feel.