DHS fact checks New York Times' 'sob story' about deported illegal immigrant, drug dealer who served 15 years in prison for kidnapping

On Thursday, Trump's Department of Homeland Security took aim at The New York Times after the storied outlet published a story sympathizing with a criminal illegal immigrant who was deportated. The man spent 15 years in a US prison for kidnapping. The Times was accused by the DHS of "conveniently glossing" over his criminal history and a 2008 removal order in an effort to push an anti-immigration enforcement agenda.

Nascimento Blair, 44, of Jamaica, was captured by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York in February and was deported to his home country. He was released from prison in 2020 and had been illegally residing in the US after overstaying a temporary visa. A judge ordered his removal in 2008 after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2006 for kidnapping a neighbor he claimed had stolen marijuana from him.

The Times published an article on Blair, titled "21 Years Later, Deported Back to a 'Home' He Barely Knew," which painted him as a victim of President Trump's mass deportation operations. The article, written by Luis Ferre-Sadurni, claimed that Blair was "rebuilding his life and seeking redemption" before he was snatched by ICE and removed from the country to an unfamiliar place.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed the piece in a post on X, saying that the Times "conveniently glossed" over Blair's criminal past.

"The New York Times conveniently glossed over that this illegal alien, Nascimento Blair is a convicted kidnapper and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 2008, he was issued a final order of removal. Because of the Biden administration's open border policies, this criminal illegal alien was released onto the streets of New York," wrote McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said in a statement to the New York Post, "Why does the New York Times continue to peddle sob stories about criminal illegal aliens and ignore their victims?" She said that Trump is focused on "arresting and deporting the worst of the worst," including "convicted kidnappers."

In 2005, Blair pleaded not guilty to seven felony counts of kidnapping and weapons charges. After a five-day deliberation, a jury found him guilty of first-degree kidnapping. A judge sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison.

Blair and two other accomplices were arrested for abducting a neighbor. The suspects held the victim, who was a teen at the time, in an apartment unit and ordered the victim's father to pay a ransom of $5,000. Police rescued the victim and recovered two handguns as well as two pounds of marijuana in the apartment. Blair told the outlet that he had adopted a "side hustle of dealing marijuana," and the victim stole drugs from him, which resulted in the retaliation.

"I got caught up selling weed and fell in love with the money," Blair told the paper, but claimed he never held the victim against his will, despite the conviction. "Somebody took something from me, and I wanted to get it back," he said.

The supportive Times piece detailed that since Blair's release from prison, he has worked hard to turn his life around. This includes earning two college degrees, obtaining a work permit, launching a trucking company, and taking care of his fiancée who suffers from breast cancer.

The Jamaican national was apprehended by federal authorities when he appeared for his immigration check-in at the ICE office in downtown Manhattan.