“Fear Factor,” Diane Sawyer teased at the top of Thursday's World News in picking up a cause-celebre of the left, demanding: “Who leaked a list of people labeled illegal immigrants, naming children and pregnant women? Are these vigilantes at work?” She soon intoned that “an investigation is under way into what's being called 'The List' – thirteen hundred names leaked in an apparent campaign of intimidation.”
Reporter David Wright relayed how “we called at least fifty people on the list. Most of them declined to be interviewed,” but “one woman,” an apparent serial offender, “told us she's pregnant with her second child. She's scared she'll be deported and separated from her two-year old, a U.S. citizen.” He proceeded to another supposed victim: “Alma is on the list, and afraid.”
Wright reported “one common denominator -- they all sought help from Utah's Department of Workforce Services,” meaning they are illegals who sought pay-outs to which they are not entitled . “Plenty of Utah residents feel it's high time authorities cracked down,” Wright acknowledged, but after a soundbite from an outraged leftist advocate the ABC correspondent ran stock footage of a man with a gun as he ominously concluded:
The fear in Utah: the vigilantes may take action themselves, just as they did by circulating the list in the first place.
ABC's concern for liberal upset in Utah came two nights after the same newscast pushed the anti-conservative effort of another left-wing cause: “ABC Hypes NAACP Indictment of Tea Party as Racist, a Smear the Network Stoked”
MRC study from early May: “Elitist Networks Pile On Against Arizona Immigration Law: By 12 to 1, ABC, CBS, and NBC Stories Ripped State's Move to Restrain Illegal Aliens.”
From the Thursday, July 15 ABC World News:
DIANE SAWYER: And the nation's intense immigration debate took a new turn in two states today. The Arizona law, officially being debated in a federal courtroom. While in Utah, an investigation is under way into what's being called “The List” – thirteen hundred names leaked in an apparent campaign of intimidation. Here's David Wright.
WOMAN: My mother in law was almost in tears when she heard about it.
WRIGHT: Guadalupe is here legally, but she has family members on the list. They're terrified.
WRIGHT, ON PHONE: Hello? Can I speak to Alphonso, please?
WOMAN: I'm afraid, even sometimes, even to go out.
WRIGHT: One common denominator -- they all sought help from Utah's Department of Workforce Services. A disgruntled state employee there was recently caught on tape.
AUDIO OF FEMALE VOICE: It's not fair that this family gets food stamps, they get financials.
WRIGHT: Venting her outrage about illegal immigrants. Indeed, plenty of Utah residents feel it's high time authorities cracked down.
ELI CAWLEY, UTAH MINUTEMEN: If I had my druthers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would in fact going through line by line and picking these people up and sending them back where they came from.
WRIGHT: But it is unlikely police will start rounding people up. But the concerned citizens of the United States are already vowing to come up with new lists on a continual basis.
WRIGHT, OVER VIDEO OF MAN WITH GUN IN HOLSTER: The fear in Utah: the vigilantes may take action themselves, just as they did by circulating the list in the first place. David Wright, ABC News, Los Angeles.
