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“When the legend becomes fact…print the legend.” Those words from an editor to a young reporter in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” still appear to be the modus operandi of the media. That was demonstrated this week with the legend of Luis Leon after The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, printed yet another harrowing account of ICE agents “disappearing” an immigrant. According to a story quickly picked up by other eager outlets, the 82-year-old grandfather, a legal asylum holder, was roughed up and then deported to Guatemala. The problem is that there appears to be no proof supporting the story of the “family members” cited by the reporter.

According to The Morning Call, Luis Leon, a Chilean national, was trying to replace his lost green card at a local USCIS office when he was suddenly deported to the wrong country, Guatemala, and he ended up in a hospital with pneumonia. The story further recounted how Leon’s wife was kept in custody in brutal conditions for 10 hours before she was released.

Media, including The Guardian, eagerly picked up the story of another “disappearing” of an immigrant.

As the story went viral, a few people decided actually to look into the case and found that it not only made no sense but there is no evidence of such a deportation.

For its part, The Morning Call changed key facts but did not withdraw the story as a hoax.

Guatemala states that there is no record of Leon entering the country. While the granddaughter claimed he was sick in a Guatemalan hospital with pneumonia, a doctor at the hospital claimed that there is no record of him being there. At the same time, Chilean authorities are saying that a man with the name Luis Leon with the same birth date as the Luis Leon died in their country in 2019.

Then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) became involved and stated that there was no record of any such arrest or deportation. It also mentioned that there was no green card appointment in Philadelphia or arrest at the location cited by the family. It clarified that the only record of this man is from 2015 under a waiver program, not an asylum program, as alleged.

Chilean journalist Jose Del Pino confirmed that there is no record to support the U.S. media’s claims and that a man by the same name and date of birth died in Santiago, Chile, in 2019.

Nevertheless, The Morning Call continued to run claims by “Nataly,” the supposed granddaughter.

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