The U.S. Department of Homeland Security characterized an NBC News report that alleged immigration agents baited an illegal immigrant to his arrest using his own 5-year-old daughter a “disgusting smear.”
After being confronted, NBC deleted its original post on X and changed its headline, which initially read “ICE held 5-year-old autistic girl in Massachusetts to pressure father to surrender, family says.”
.@NBCNews — these smears are SICK.
Our ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait.’
The criminal illegal alien target of the operation—with previous arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalizing property—ABANDONED HIS OWN CHILD in a car.
Edwards Hip Mejia, a… pic.twitter.com/p0Bedk5p6Q
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 23, 2025
NBC’s updated story says video obtained by the girl’s mother “depicts the girl sitting beside an SUV with three agents nearby outside her home” last week while Edward Hip Mejia, the girl’s father, was inside the house.
NBC News reported: “The girl’s mother told Telemundo … that her husband called her while he was driving with their daughter shortly before the incident and told her he thought he was being followed.”
“Mejia, drove home and ‘managed to run back into the parking lot of my house,’ she said, and her daughter as a result was left with the agents.”
NBC also included a quote from the girl’s mother, who can be heard in the video saying: “They took my daughter, she’s 5 years old. She has autism spectrum. Give me my daughter back.”
DHS on Tuesday disputed the report in a post on X, saying “these smears are SICK.”
According to DHS, Mejia, an illegal alien, abandoned his daughter in the car in order to run into his house and escape ICE arrest.
.@NBCNews — these smears are SICK.
Our ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait.’
The criminal illegal alien target of the operation—with previous arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalizing property—ABANDONED HIS OWN CHILD in a car.
Edwards Hip Mejia, a… pic.twitter.com/p0Bedk5p6Q
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 23, 2025
“Officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment,” DHS said. “Stop the smears. Stop the lies.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin added more context, saying Mejia “ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house. He fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house. He abandoned his 5-year-old daughter in the car.”
McLaughlin pointed to biased stories like the NBC report as a reason why attacks on immigration enforcement have increased during the Trump administration.
“Disgusting smears like these peddled by the media are leading to a 1000% increase in assaults against our brave law enforcement,” she said.
Absolutely not. ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as “bait”—what a disgusting smear. The criminal illegal alien target —with previous arrests for domestic abuse and strangulation, among other charges—ABANDONED his own child in a car.
The target, Edwards Hip Mejia,… https://t.co/8LIMlC92H5— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) September 23, 2025
NBC News added a correction to the story that reads: “An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the activities of ICE agents in the video. The article has been updated.”
