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DHS calls out NBC affiliate for hiding illegal immigrant crime history in arrest story
By Lindsay Kornick
Published October 29, 2025
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back Wednesday at a local NBC News affiliate's report on an arrested illegal immigrant in California.
On Saturday, NBC Bay Area reported that federal agents arrested 42-year-old Gerardo in San Jose as he was leaving for work.
"According to the family’s Ring video, Gerardo was in his black truck at 7:45 a.m., about to head out to his construction job when multiple people, who appear to be federal officers, approached his truck and yelled for him to get out," the report read.
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NBC Bay Area reported on the arrest of a 42-year-old illegal immigrant outside his home on Saturday. (ICE)
It continued, "His wife, Idalia, who says she is a U.S. citizen, ran to the truck to try to stop the arrest. She said a woman, not in uniform, hit her 22-year-old daughter with a baton - the incident, however, is not shown on the footage."
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, however, wrote on X that the local affiliate did not report the full details on the arrested suspect.
"Of course @NBCNews refuses to tell the American public that this illegal alien from Mexico has a rap sheet that includes: lewd and lascivious acts with a CHILD, battery of a spouse, domestic battery, compensation for prostitution, felony reentry after removal," McLaughlin wrote.
In a longer statement to Fox News Digital, McLaughlin confirmed that ICE officers arrested Gerardo Rojas-Leyva, an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a history of battery. McLaughlin said that Rojas-Leyva did not provide identification and resisted arrest, forcing an officer to deploy a taser and handcuff him.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, left, informed Fox News Digital that Gerardo Rojas-Leyva had a history of crime. (DHS; ICE )
"Rojas-Leyva’s criminal history includes lewd and lascivious acts with child of 14-15 years old, battery of a spouse, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, and proving compensation for prostitution," McLaughlin said. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S."
Fox News Digital reached out to NBC for comment.
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McLaughlin repeatedly called out mainstream media reports on ICE arrests. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
McLaughlin previously attacked NBC over a report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents used a 5-year-old girl with autism to pressure her father, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, to surrender. She called the report a "disgusting smear" of ICE agents.
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"Keep in mind, these men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, and they are sons and daughters. These are people who just want to go home to their families at night and serve our great nation," McLaughlin said on "Fox & Friends."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dhs-calls-out-nbc-affiliate-hiding-illegal-immigrant-crime-history-arrest-story