That was the headline on a story from the Associated Press about the caravan of migrants moving through Mexico toward the United States.

One definition of “army” is “a large number of people or things, typically formed or organized for a particular purpose.” So, technically, the AP was in the clear.

But with such an emotionally charged topic, this tweet from the AP Politics account really struck a nerve:

One look at the dreaded “ratio,” and the AP had to know it had a problem. In Twitter speak, that’s when the number of replies to a tweet greatly outnumbers the likes and retweets. And that tweet certainly got the ratio treatment.

“Yeah, I too look at a photo of sleeping toddlers and exhausted mothers and think, ‘yes, that is absolutely an ‘army,’” wrote Kevin Kruse. “This is a vile and disingenuous headline. You should be ashamed,” tweets Lisa Walker.

A former director of the U.S. office of Government Ethics wasn’t having any of it either, as the replies mounted... and the likes and retweets did not:

The AP finally decided to delete the tweet and post this statement:

This “army” the AP was referring to grew to about 5,000 people Sunday, fleeing disasters across several countries in Central America.

Many of the migrants reportedly had lived in the United States previously and are trying to return to their children or their old jobs.

The president made clear he’ll do what’s necessary to keep them out: