DHS Secretary Kristi Noem joins ICE and law enforcement in Arizona
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) slammed The New York Times Saturday over a story about a suspect who allegedly raped a corpse on a New York City subway, saying the reporters failed to mention the man was in the U.S. illegally.
“The New York Times refused to mention anywhere in its 400-word story on the monstrous rape of a corpse on the NYC subway that the depraved perpetrator is an ILLEGAL alien,” Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, wrote on X. “Why not report the facts, @nytimes?”
The New York Times told Fox News that McLaughlin’s May 3 social media post, that included a screenshot of the publication’s story, omitted the April 28 publish date.
“Our report on the arrest of Felix Rojas was published on Monday, April 28, three days before Immigration and Customs Enforcement publicly revealed he had illegally entered the country multiple times,” New York Times Communications Director Nicole Taylor told Fox News. “Our story does not include details on immigration status as neither the police nor ICE had disclosed it.”
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ICE filed an immigration detainer against Felix Rojas, who is accused of rape and grand larceny. (Department of Homeland Security)
Several other outlets also failed to report on Rojas’ immigration status, and the New York Post reported that his immigration status was unknown at the time of its story Tuesday about the incident. On Friday, the Post followed up with a separate story reporting that Rojas was in the U.S. illegally.
DHS issued a news release announcing Rojas’ ICE detainer May 1, three days after the Times story, which does not appear to have been updated with his immigration status. The Times hasn’t written any additional stories about Rojas since.
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According to DHS, Rojas, who illegally entered the country multiple times dating back to 1998, was arrested in New York City and charged with rape and grand larceny for allegedly raping a corpse on a subway in Manhattan.
A man who died of natural causes on the R train was slumped over in a seat, the NYPD told Fox News. Rojas allegedly rummaged through the man’s pockets and then had sex with the man’s dead body after looking around to see if anyone was watching, police say.
Investigators are now looking into the possibility he could be linked to other crimes across the city.
“With impunity, open-border policies have allowed violent criminal aliens to terrorize America’s towns and cities,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, ICE is working around the clock to remove the worst of the worst from our communities. If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up.”
