An immigration expert accused the Department of Homeland Security of making defamatory statements against a pair of men whom the agency made out to have committed a shooting, when they actually were just careless at a makeshift gun range.
"Two of the MONSTERS who opened fire on a children’s baseball field in Katy, Texas, gained status and even U.S. citizenship under the Biden Administration," stated a post to X by the official DHS account, including head shots of the two men. "Mustafa Mohammad Matalgah and Ahmad Mawed ruthlessly opened fire hitting the team’s coach while he was leading a prayer. These individuals should never have been allowed into our country. Under @POTUS Trump, and @Sec_Noem we are working to prevent attacks like these from ever happening again."
But American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick took issue with the government's description of what happened — and put DHS on notice.
"This is libel by a government agency: these two men were charged with the equivalent of negligent discharge, as they were target shooting without a proper backstop and a stray bullet got away and hit someone almost half a mile away," wrote Reichlin-Melnick. "There was no 'attack.' It was an accident!"
Melnick provided a screenshot of statements made by TheRac baseball field, noting that "in the 'country' people shoot on their own land all the time" and that this was "just a TERRIBLE accident."
This is not the first controversy to arise from apparent false claims made by Homeland Security officials. Earlier this month, DHS claimed that a fatal shooting of a suspect by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago occurred after the suspect drove his car at them and dragged one agent with it, seriously injuring them. But body camera footage casts doubt on this version of events.
This all comes at the same time DHS is under fire for creating what Democratic leaders call a public "hit list" of politicians who have criticized them.