In a stunning display of journalistic malpractice, CNN recently aired an interview with a member of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump Administration. It was yet another glaring example of legacy media’s skewed priorities, which consistently downplay the devastating impact of illegal immigration and cartel-driven crime on American citizens while pushing narratives that humanize criminals.
The segment, conducted by correspondent Isobel Yeung, was widely criticized for its softball approach, allowing the masked cartel member to express “respect” for President Trump while deflecting blame for the cartel’s fentanyl trafficking onto American consumers.
The Sinaloa cartel is largely responsible for flooding the United States with fentanyl, a drug that killed over 70,000 Americans in 2023 alone and is the leading cause of death in U.S. adults ages 18-45. Yet CNN chose to give a platform to one of its operatives, probing his feelings about being labeled a terrorist rather than confronting the bloodshed and misery his organization inflicts. This is an insult to our nation when contrasted with the minimal coverage legacy media, including CNN, devote to American victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens—crimes often linked to the same cartels and anti-borders policies that enable their operations.
Take the cases of Laken Riley and Rachel Morin, two young women whose lives were brutally cut short by criminal aliens. Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was murdered in February 2024 while jogging on the University of Georgia campus. Her killer, Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national, had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was released after arrests for other crimes, including child endangerment, due to lax sanctuary city policies.
Morin, a Maryland mother of five, was raped and murdered in 2023 by Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal alien from El Salvador with a violent criminal history. Both cases sparked national disgust, yet CNN and other major networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC gave them scant attention. A Media Research Center study found that these networks spent zero seconds on Martinez-Hernandez’s trial but allocated 64 minutes to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the deported illegal alien accused of MS-13 gang membership, domestic violence, and human trafficking, between April 1 and 15.
This disparity is not accidental. It reflects a broader trend in legacy media and among anti-borders politicians who prioritize the rights and narratives of illegal aliens—too many of whom are often dangerous criminals—over the safety and grief of American citizens.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) epitomizes this mindset. Last month he traveled to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Abrego Garcia. The trip, funded by taxpayer money, sparked outrage from Patty Morin, Rachel Morin’s mother, who noted that Van Hollen never contacted her family after her daughter’s murder. Instead, he expended resources to “bring home” a foreign national with alleged ties to a violent gang.
Similarly, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has consistently framed illegal mass migration as a humanitarian issue while dismissing concerns about border security as xenophobic. In 2019, she compared border detention centers to “concentration camps,” ignoring the role of surrendered borders in enabling cartels and criminals to exploit the system. Her rhetoric, like that of many pro-illegal migration politicians, glosses over the human cost borne by victims like Riley and Morin, whose stories are inconvenient to the narrative that de facto amnesty for all is a moral imperative.
CNN’s cartel interview aligns seamlessly with this attitude. By giving a platform to a cartel member, CNN not only normalizes the very networks that fuel violence and drug trafficking, but also diverts attention from the American families shattered by the consequences of porous borders.
This disconnect between legacy media, anti-borders politicians, and the American public has not gone unnoticed. In last year’s presidential election, voters delivered a resounding mandate to President Donald Trump, whose campaign emphasized border security and an end to the lawlessness that flourished under Joe Biden’s lax immigration policies. Trump’s victory, coupled with the passage of laws like the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of illegal aliens charged with certain crimes, reflects a public demand for accountability and safety.
The American people are not swayed by CNN’s sympathetic portrayals of cartel members or the sanctimonious posturing of politicians like Van Hollen and AOC. They see the graves of Riley, Morin, and countless others as stark reminders of the cost of allowing unchecked numbers of foreigners into the country illegally.
Most Americans want secure borders, not open ones, and they reject the notion that the rights of criminals should supersede those of law-abiding citizens. The media and political elites may cling to their narratives, but the electorate has spoken: it is time to prioritize the safety and sovereignty of the United States.
Brian Lonergan is director of communications at the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, D.C, and host of IRLI’s “No Border, No Country” podcast.
