The New York Times sparked intense debate on social media with its story of an illegal immigrant accused of stealing an American's identity on Monday, with Vice President JD Vance blasting the paper's "shameful" framing of the story at the center of the controversy.
The Times published a lengthy report, "Two Men. One Identity. They Both Paid the Price," on the nightmarish plight of a Minnesota man, Daniel Kluver, whose identity was reportedly stolen by an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, Romeo Pérez-Bravo.
Kluver endured years of IRS fines and even garnished paychecks as the man assuming his identity earned incomes in other states that pushed the real Kluver into an improper tax bracket.
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Pérez-Bravo assumed several identities over decades living illegally in the U.S. According to the Times, he racked up several drunk-driving charges and was deported in 2005, 2008 and 2009, but he returned each time and bought another illicit ID, according to the report. The fake Kluver was involved in a fatal car accident in 2022 when he accidentally struck and killed a man who was riding with his granddaughter on a motorized tricycle, according to the report. That led to a wrongful death lawsuit, with Kluver listed as the defendant.
The Times story highlighted the real Kluver's frustrations with liberal politicians in Minnesota who thought illegal immigration was a victimless crime, as he pointed to his debts and the frustrations of waiting for an investigation to find the impostor. Eventually, investigators took his case and discovered Pérez-Bravo, who was charged with aggravated identity theft and false representation of a Social Security number. He was held in detention for six weeks before an initial bond hearing in April and is currently awaiting trial, where he almost certainly will face prison time and another deportation, the Times reported.
The Times featured interviews with both men, and it noted Pérez-Bravo was fearful of being discovered in the second Trump administration.
A lawyer for Perez-Bravo declined comment to Fox News Digital.
Many conservative readers were bothered by the headline and the sympathetic framing, and Vance was among the critics who took to X with thoughts.
"What shameful framing from the NYT," Vance posted.
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Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., added, "Democrats' open borders let illegal aliens steal our jobs and identities. Americans are paying the price, and @nytimes is painting the criminal illegal as a victim? Shameful."
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., called it "absolutely ridiculous" by the Times.
"This illegal alien stole a hardworking American's identity and upended his life for years - but the NYT portrays the twice deported, repeat DUI illegal alien as the true victim," Lummis posted.
The New York Times defended the story in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"What audiences expect of reporters at The Times is a full picture of what's happening in the country, and not supporting or opposing any one political agenda. This article helped our readers better understand the complexities of immigration in America today and the government's difficulty in dealing with the increasingly common problem of identity theft," a New York Times spokesperson said.
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Many others chimed in on social media:
One X user who criticized its framing praised the Times, however, for running the story.
"Editorial decisions aside, it's good journalism, and it's to the Times' credit that they bother even when the story isn't favorable to their views," one user wrote.
"This from @elisaslow is such a good and sad story, and I would hope that any decent person would find a way to empathize with both of these men," liberal writer Jill Filipovic wrote on X.
"No question, the undocumented worker did bad things," another user wrote. "But case is complicated by years out of trouble & family ties. Both men failed by a system that did not take identity theft seriously (horrible stuff!) or have any path for legal immigration."
The Washington Examiner's Byron York said the headline was "disgraceful" but said the story made clear that deportation in this instance should be "permanent and irreversible."
A Justice Department press release about the case in March stated, "If convicted, Pérez-Bravo faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence for identity theft and up to five years for misusing the Social Security number."
Fox News Digital's David Rutz contributed to this report.
