The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday fired back at the mainstream media, accusing them of not properly portraying an illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested last week on suspicion of spitting on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Los Angeles.

Several media outlets, including KTTV in Los Angeles and the New York-based Latin Times, referred to Omar Pulido-Bastida, a Mexican national who was charged June 11 with a felony after an ICE agent was spat upon, as a "South LA man" or "man," instead of referring to him as an illegal immigrant. The British-based Independent referred to him as an "L.A. man."

"The media is attempting to force feed Americans that this is a 'L.A. Man' — it's not," Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a news release. "This is a criminal illegal alien who should have never been in our country."

DHS said Pulido-Bastida was previously convicted of robbery and has been arrested on murder and assault charges. Earlier this year, he was charged with being in the country illegally after previously being deported, according to the Department of Justice.

"This previously deported illegal alien criminal spit on an ICE law enforcement officer," McLaughlin said. "Too many members of the media continue to purposefully mislead the public about illegal alien crime. Americans deserve to know the facts."

The criticism reflects how several mainstream media outlets portrayed Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, as a "Maryland man" after his deportation to his home country. Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration asserts is a member of the MS-13 gang, was returned to the U.S. to face federal human smuggling charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

"The media's consistent and duplicitous mischaracterization of illegal aliens as a 'L.A. man,' 'Maryland man,' and other misleading descriptors is an attempt to garner sympathy for murderers, drug and human traffickers, pedophiles, rapists, and violent criminals," DHS said in the news release. "DHS will continue to push back on the false narratives hiding the facts about illegal alien crime."

KABC-TV in Los Angeles referred to Pulido-Bastida as an "immigrant," and the Los Angeles Daily News and MyNewsLA.com referred to him as an "undocumented immigrant."

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