The mainstream media is making great progress in their current campaign to repeal President Trump’s travel ban (rather than reporting on it) but the effort was in serious need of a poster child in order to be successful. Stories about criminals being deported would never produce the required amount of sympathy with the public. Now, however, they seem to have found the ideal star to play the lead in this drama. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos checks all the right boxes and is now being featured in a nearly continuous loop on cable news. (CNN)

Mexico warned its citizens living in the United States on Friday to “take precautions” and remain in contact with consular officials a day after the deportation of an undocumented mother following a routine visit with US immigration authorities. Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, 35, was deported Thursday after she checked in with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix, Arizona, a day earlier. The action sparked protests by supporters of Garcia de Rayos and drew praise from proponents of stricter enforcement of immigration laws. “The case involving Mrs. Garcia de Rayos illustrates a new reality for the Mexican community living in the United States, facing the most severe implementation of immigration control measures,” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. Mexican consulates “have intensified their work of protecting fellow nationals, foreseeing more severe immigration measures to be implemented by the authorities of this country, and possible violations to constitutional precepts during such operations and problems with due process,” the statement said.

It’s a truly heartwarming story, isn’t it? You guys get it, right? She’s a mom. She has a daughter. She’s been in the country for 22 years trying to make a better life for her family. It’s straight out of a Hallmark movie of the week.

Of course you have to sort through a lot of the associated coverage and dig down pretty far to find the pertinent details of the story. It’s true that Garcia de Rayos is a mother and has been raising her daughter in Arizona. It is also true that she has been involved with immigration law enforcement in the past without being deported. What seems to be less frequently mentioned is that she had already been found to have falsely used someone else’s Social Security number. The entire time she has been in the country, she has been living here illegally. If you, assuming you are a legal, American born citizen, were found to be committing identity theft of this type you would quickly find yourself with an appointment to see a judge.

Now Mrs. Garcia de Rayos has been deported and is back in Mexico. Her sad story is being told on CNN and other networks complete with much wringing of hands and frightened questions about what is to become of her and her daughter. But in reality, ICE was simply doing their job. This woman had a more than two decade long career of breaking the law in a number of areas and had no right to be in the country at any time. The fact that her daughter, an American citizen by birth, was swept up in her misdeeds and now finds herself outside of the country is neither the fault of immigration enforcement nor of the White House. The fault lies with the mother who made the conscious decision to break the law and bring a child into this world under these circumstances.

It’s the same as with these other reports of “sweeping immigration raids” catching headlines. They could have just as easily said, “law enforcement enforces law.” Still, that’s not the story you’re going to be seeing on CNN nor in the pages of the Washington Post. It’s all about the horrible, uncaring nature of the new president and his hateful policies. There was a time in this country when reporting on a story about our laws being enforced would have seemed irrelevant. Sadly, it is now so remarkable as to be front page news.