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NBC’s long-running crime drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” featured immigration officers blocking the police from investigating a rape by trying to arrest an illegal immigrant witness.
Thursday’s episode, “In the Wind,” followed a building superintendent named Jorge Ruiz, played by Juan Francisco Villa, who becomes a key witness in identifying a rape suspect. However, Ruiz’s illegal status complicates matters after he flees an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on his building because of his past as a convicted felon.
According to media watchdog NewsBusters, Ruiz was previously arrested on a “bogus charge” and only “got caught up in a drug sweep.” He defends himself later in the episode to Captain Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay.
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“I’ve been in this country for 22 years,” Ruiz said. “I got a job. I—I’m really good at it. Paid my taxes. I send money back to my family. And I was arrested 15 years ago. But—but it was for something that I didn’t do.”
Benson attempts to convince Ruiz to stay and testify, but Ruiz expresses disdain at the idea of doing “something nice for [the] government.”
“So my choices are to—to run and hide and hope that they never find me or to — to just leave my whole life and just go back. And now you’re asking me to do something nice for my government? Why would I do that?” Ruiz said.
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Benson protects Ruiz by placing him in police custody, though she is briefly arrested for interfering with a federal operation after ICE agents try to apprehend him at the precinct.
ICE agents tried again to arrest Ruiz during court proceedings before he could testify, only to be berated by the judge.
“No, not in my courtroom. Jimmy, tell them they can wait outside, but they are not welcome here,” the judge said.
Ruiz is then granted a so-called “snitch visa” to stay in the U.S. legally as an informant.
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“Law & Order: SVU” has frequently touted its “ripped from the headline” storylines, though it has been criticized in recent years for having a left-leaning political slant.
In 2024, the show went viral after an episode featured a White rape victim refusing to testify against her attacker because she was concerned that he would not get a fair trial due to his race.
Fox News Digital reached out to NBC and ICE for comment.
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