News/Commentary

Congressman’s ‘self-deportation’ sob story meets the facts Bill Melugin says were left out

August 25, 2026 | | Print Article

A pro-amnesty Republican lawmaker’s attempt at spinning a social media sob story shifted to citizen “insults” after a Fox News correspondent set an illegal alien’s record straight.

Time and again, open border proponents have employed sentiment and crafted narratives — like “Maryland man” — to defend their views that upholding the law should be subject to their whims. Sunday, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon (R), an outgoing thorn in the GOP’s side, attempted the same before bickering with commentators after Fox News’ Bill Melugin fact-checked how a college graduate deported herself.

Sharing a story from the Nebraska Examiner that emphasized Bacon’s intervention in aiming to keep 24-year-old Mexican national Mariana Juarez stateside, the congressman posted on X, “Mariana was brought here as a minor & then abandoned. She learned English, graduated from Central High & UNO with honors & then earned her pilot’s license. Deporting her is disgraceful. Most Americans want a secure border, dangerous people deported, but also want decency & humanity.”

Captioning the lawmaker’s post, Fox News congressional correspondent Melugin countered with a summary of the article, explaining, “She has a deportation order from 2018 for failing to appear for a court hearing (she says notice went to the wrong address) after her mom illegally brought her across the border at age 14. The Board of Immigration Appeals denied her appeal, she was given multiple temporary stays of removal, and now the Trump admin isn’t extending the stay. She has now chosen to self deport via a flight to Mexico next month rather than risk ICE detention.”

Instead of responding to the correspondent, Bacon proceeded to argue with replies to his post, including deeming an argument against “exceptions or sob stories” a “dumb comment.”

He further insisted in reply to questions from journalist Megan Basham that, “Mariana broke no law. We should have common sense and decency. You’ll lose the majority this next [election] because most Americans don’t like the indecency. We went from one extreme to the other.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Worth noting, the congressman who opted against seeking re-election previously bucked GOP leadership with his vote to help Democrats send billions more dollars to Ukraine along with weapons. He also endeavored to keep the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) running despite its censorship efforts and took steps with Democrats to oppose the president’s tariffs.

ADVERTISEMENT

On top of questioning Bacon’s aggressive responses to his post, calling defenders of national sovereignty “nuts’ and using the Bible as a cudgel to support his view the law shouldn’t be upheld, reactions questioned how an illegal alien was able to get a private pilot’s license in the United States to begin with.

Details were vague in the Examiner’s report, as it explained that after “a temporary stay of removal,” Juarez obtained “work authorization while in college and cleared the way for a private pilot license in 2025.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles