BOSTON — A 5-year-old autistic girl is now at the center of a bitter slugfest between NBC News and the U.S. government — with the media giant accusing ICE of using her as “bait” to trap her father, and Homeland Security blasting the report as a sick lie.

.@NBCNews — these smears are SICK.

Our ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait.’

The criminal illegal alien target of the operation—with previous arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalizing property—ABANDONED HIS OWN CHILD in a car.

Edwards Hip Mejia, a… pic.twitter.com/p0Bedk5p6Q

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 23, 2025

NBC dropped a bombshell headline, claiming ICE agents in Massachusetts held the girl hostage to pressure her father into surrendering. The story, fueled by furious relatives, spread like wildfire — sparking outrage across the country and drawing millions of views within hours.

But Homeland Security is fighting back hard. In a furious statement on X, officials branded the NBC claims “sick smears,” flatly denying that agents ever used a child as leverage. Instead, they say the girl’s father — Edward Hip Mejia of Guatemala — abandoned his own daughter during the raid, bolting into his house while leaving the 5-year-old alone in the car.

Federal officials say Mejia wasn’t some innocent dad. Court records and DHS statements describe him as a “criminal illegal alien” with prior arrests for domestic abuse, strangulation, and vandalism. ICE tracked him to his Leominster home around September 18, where the dramatic confrontation unfolded. Two days later, agents returned and took him into custody.

According to DHS, agents had to rescue the terrified child themselves and call local police to report the abandonment. “Stop the smears. Stop the lies,” the agency thundered. But NBC’s framing tells a very different story — one that paints ICE as villains wielding a child as a pawn in an immigration crackdown.

Now the air is thick with accusations. Was the girl really “held” as leverage, as her family claims? Or was she abandoned by a father with a violent rap sheet, as Homeland Security insists?

The fallout is already rocking Massachusetts, a state deeply split over immigration enforcement. Sanctuary city leaders who have clashed with ICE for years are seizing on NBC’s reporting, while law-and-order advocates are backing DHS’s version and accusing the media of bending the truth to fit an agenda.

One thing is certain: a little girl is caught in the middle of a national brawl between the press and the feds — and the truth has become just as contested as the border itself.