JANESVILLE, Wisconsin — Two local newspapers here in Wisconsin’s first congressional district are refusing to report news relevant to their readers when it comes to federal law enforcement criticism of House Speaker Paul Ryan.
The tactic—shunning any information that is unfavorable to their preferred candidate in an election, in this case Ryan over businessman Paul Nehlen in the GOP primary this coming Tuesday—is one of the worst examples of media bias.
Specifically, as the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported on Thursday, federal immigration officers are upset with Ryan’s handling of immigration matters.
National ICE Council president Chris Crane wrote to Ryan:
I write to you today in my capacity as the President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council, representing approximately 7,000 ICE law enforcement officers and staff. I am also an ICE officer myself. I am writing because I have multiple concerns I would like to address with you. We are in the middle of a national crisis—immigration officers are prohibited from enforcing the laws of the United States, and a result dangerous criminal aliens are being released into American communities daily. I am concerned that as House Speaker, you have not spoken out about any of the issues confronting our officers or the threat to public safety presented by the lawless immigration policies of the Obama administration.
The letter goes on to detail that Ryan and his office have not reached out to the ICE officers on this matter, and instead Ryan and his House pushed an omnibus spending bill “that funds the current lawlessness.”
“Your 2015 spending bill funded sanctuary cities, the resettlement of illegal alien border crossers, the release of criminal aliens and executive amnesty—policies which jeopardize the safety and security of the American people,” Crane wrote. “These programs should have never been funded.”
After detailing several more problems with Ryan’s immigration positions and comments Ryan has made, Crane then asked Ryan to “immediately bring up legislation to the floor to address this national crisis and keep the American people safe.”
“Our ICE officers have many ideas about the type of legislation necessary to fix the problem, which we expect to be able to discuss with you at long last,” Crane wrote. “I also request that you hold a press conference with the National ICE Council within the next week to advance these goals.”
Ryan spokesman Zack Roday, who previously told Breitbart News that Ryan doesn’t have any currently scheduled open-to-press events between now and Tuesday’s election, hasn’t replied when asked if Ryan will do a press conference with the federal officers in the timeframe they were asking for. Since Crane’s letter was sent on Tuesday, that means Ryan would need to hold such a press conference before this coming Tuesday. At this point, it seems unlikely since Ryan is only doing controlled local talk radio interviews with hosts who are his friends and won’t ask him any challenging questions.
But what’s perhaps even more disturbing than Ryan’s behavior here with regard to law enforcement is the actions of supposedly impartial local news reporters here in Wisconsin. At least two major newspapers in Ryan’s district refused to print the letter from Crane or any news about it.
On August 2, Mark Schaaf—a reporter for the Racine, Wisconsin, based Journal Times—told the ICE National Council’s press team that he and his editors have decided not to run any news items on the federal law enforcement concerns with their congressman, Ryan.
“I apologize for my delayed reply,” Schaaf wrote to the ICE National Council about the letter. “Yes, I did receive it. I checked with my editors and we will not be able to do the story. Appreciate you reaching out.”
Schaaf’s is not the only local newspaper that is blocking out legitimate news coverage critical of Ryan in the news.
The letter, Breitbart News has learned, was also provided to Frank Schultz at the Janesville Gazette here in Ryan’s hometown. After some time, the newspaper never got back to the ICE National Council and never printed a story about it.
Both Schaaf and Schultz have not responded to detailed request for comment from Breitbart News on their decisions not to report all the news about their congressman, specifically about federal law enforcement concerns with him.
But Schultz’s newspaper has attacked Nehlen, saying his criticisms of Ryan on immigration are “despicable” and that Nehlen has a “minimal grasp of the realities of… law enforcement.”
Guess it turns out it’s actually the other way around, with law enforcement officers now speaking out against Ryan.