It didn’t take long for a local TV station to shoot down a report by a conservative website that authorities arrested an “Islamic refugee” in New Mexico after actually calling the law enforcement allegedly involved.
Judicial Watch reported the arrest on Wednesday and cited law enforcement sources. The report said the Luna County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol and the FBI were involved in the arrest.
The website claimed the woman was arrested by a Luna County sheriff’s deputy with gas pipeline plans.
But when KRQE-TV actually called the named local and federal law enforcement, all said the report was not true. KRQE’s report came out on Thursday.
KRQE spoke to Luna County Sheriff John Mooradian, who said there was no such arrest.
“Before putting out such an article that could put people in such an uproar, maybe they should confirm their stories,” Mooradian said. “…it’s really unfortunate to our citizens that they have to endure that kind of fear.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol working out of the department’s El Paso office also said they had no evidence of such a report, as did an FBI spokesman from the Albuquerque office.
This isn’t the first time a rumor of alleged terrorist activity by Judicial Watch across the border needed a debunking.
Last year, the website reported an ISIS camp in Mexico. But none other than U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican, threw cold water on the report.
“The same day that Judicial Watch released their report, we received a classified briefing on the subject and have continued to monitor the situation,” Pearce wrote at the time. “To date, no information has surfaced supporting or confirming the camps. However, my staff and I will continue to engage with the military, the intelligence community, and the media outlets first reporting this story for updates and any new information.”
