CNN, MSNBC skip on-air coverage of July 4 armed attack on ICE agents at Texas facility
Armed attackers ambushed ICE agents at Texas detention facility on Independence Day, yet CNN and MSNBC viewers received no on-air coverage of the incident.
Americans who rely on watching CNN or MSNBC for information would be in the dark about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents being ambushed at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on Independence Day.
A heavily armed group lured two unarmed ICE agents into a parking lot on the evening of July 4 by firing a barrage of fireworks at their door and spray-painting graffiti on their personal cars with the words "traitor" and "Ice Pig," which agents could see from the cameras inside.
At around the same time, a police officer responded to their 911 call for two men firing rounds from a nearby tree line, and an officer was hit in the neck, which forced the agents to take cover. Police also found seven suspects in black military fatigues wandering in a field 300 yards away, some of whom were covered in mud from trying to escape on foot. They also had weapons, vests and radios.
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But CNN and MSNBC didn't devote any airtime to the incident, Mediaite was first to report.
"Should that not strike you as unusual, imagine this scenario: 11 members of a right-wing militia group open fire on an FBI field office on a major holiday, and a responding police officer is shot in the neck," Isaac Schorr wrote for Mediaite.
The city of "Alvarado" and the term "Prairieland Detention Center" weren’t mentioned on CNN or MSNBC between July 4-10, according to a search of transcripts using Grabien Media.
CNN and MSNBC did not comment on the record when asked why the attack on ICE agents was ignored on air.
July 4 was marked by two other major developments; the devastating flash floods in central Texas and President Donald Trump signing the "big, beautiful bill" into law. The tragedy in Texas and fallout from the catastrophic flooding has dominated the news cycle for the past week.
However, the outlets have covered numerous other topics in addition to the floods over the past week, such as the Department of Justice's memo on Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump administration's tariff and immigration policies, and the criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey.
While the networks ignored the attack on-air, CNN did cover it online.
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A July 7 criminal complaint filed by the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas alleges that assailants shot 20 to 30 rounds from an AR-15-style rifle before it jammed, causing it to malfunction.
Court records alleged extensive planning went into the attack on ICE agents, as well as the discovery of anti-government literature in an apartment tied to a suspect, including literature entitled "Organising for Attack! Insurrectionary Anarchy."
Twelve individuals have been charged for their roles in the attack.
Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson said the attack was not a "peaceful protest."
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"This was an ambush on federal and local law enforcement officers. This increasing trend of violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas. Those who use violence against law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted using the toughest criminal statutes and penalties available," Larson said in a statement.
The Alvarado police officer who was shot in the neck outside the ICE facility during the attack is expected to survive.
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