Reasonable individuals may conclude that the dismantling of a visa scam that facilitates immigration fraud might warrant substantial coverage on evening newscasts across the legacy media dial. But such a thing actually just happened, and no one covered it except Univision.
Watch the brief in its entirety, as aired on Noticiero Univision on Wednesday, July 16th, 2025:
FELIX DE BEDOUT: And in Louisiana five men, including three current and former police chiefs, are under arrest over their alleged involvement in a U visa fraud ring, which is granted to immigrants who are victims of crimes with their families. According to federal authorities, the detainees sold falsified police reports to undocumented immigrants for use in their legal proceedings so they may obtain that U visa. They now face charges of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering, among others.
More details on the extent of the visa fraud, via the Department of Justice:
The 62-count indictment alleges that from on or about December 26, 2015, and continuing until at least July 15, 2025, Patel, Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, and Onishea conspired together to commit Visa fraud, namely a nonimmigrant U-Visa, which defendants knew to be procured by means of false claims and statements and otherwise procured by fraud and unlawfully obtained by the defendants.
The indictment alleges that Patel, Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, Onishea, and others, authored, facilitated, produced and authenticated false police reports in several central Louisiana parishes. Each report listed several victims of purported armed robberies in the central Louisiana area and the defendants produced false police reports so that the purported victims of the robberies could apply for U-Visas.
The U-Visa is often treated by advocates as a golden ticket to permanent residency in the United States. Showing proof of being the victim of a crime is another way of securing that golden ticket. And as such, it is ripe for exploitation and monetization by criminals as we see here. This story boldly underlines why there is such a need for strict border enforcement, which makes its suppression all the more galling.
It isn’t like ABC, CBS, and NBC were unaware of the story in the first place. They each ran related items on their respective websites (see: ABC, CBS, NBC). However, and as was the case with Dr. First Lady Jill Biden’s Chief of Staff pleading the Fifth, there was simply no room for the item anywhere on the evening news- not with such pressing issues as Caitlin Clark getting fouled, Darth Vader’s light saber going up for auction, and the Obamas refuting divorce rumors.
It seems counterintuitive that Univision, then, would be the sole outlet to run the story. But to the contrary, this is consistent with the network’s immigration advocacy business model. Exposing frauds, scams, and bad actors helps Univision preserve the appearance of not supporting lawbreaking. Even though they still advocate for illegal immigrants.
At the legacies, it’s simply a matter of laziness, and the principle not airing a story that would make President Trump look good by bolstering the need for strict immigration enforcement.