Martin Soto hit his wife in the presence of his kids and in-laws. His wife called the cops, who showed up, and they arrested him. Then the wife, Gabriela Soto, invents a story, says that ICE picked up her husband on his way back from buying diapers. Mechkowski says that the media ran her story for 8 months. How could this happen, you ask? Like this. Mechkowski explains,
Then the story traveled. NJ Advance Media printed it first. Truthout and the Real News Network ran her column under a headline that used the word “kidnapped.” Democracy Now! had her on in May and again in August. NPR’s Code Switch told listeners he was picked up on his way to get diapers. In May, CNN reported that ICE detained him on Jan. 20 as he bought diapers, a date that appears nowhere in the records. In that same sentence, CNN noted he had previously been arrested in an alleged domestic violence incident, with the charges dismissed and expunged, according to his attorneys. The two halves of that sentence were never reconciled. The arrest is how ICE got him. Most of the other coverage I am describing ran before the police records surfaced, and I understand that. What I cannot excuse is what ran after. The Daily Wire first reported the records on July 24. In October, Mother Jones put “Martin Soto Went Out for Diapers” in a headline. The Philadelphia Inquirer still carried the diaper line, attributed to her, the day after his release.
Absolute disgrace.
from Scott Mechkowski,
Morning Tea Time : Please check the receipts.
I did. First and foremost, Gabriela Soto lied. Not just a small lie, not to just one person. She told it to the law enforcement and to the world. She told law enforcement that her husband was picked up by ICE on his way back from picking up diapers. She even lied about the conversation she had with her husband on the phone. And she's a mother.
ICE Didn't Take Her. ICE Didn't Grab Him: 
Martin Soto's wife Gabriella told the country ICE snatched him off the street on a diaper run.
The media ran it for eight months.
The Kearny Report published and obtained, says otherwise. [refers to Kearny (New Jersey) Police Department arrest/incident records on Martin Soto from around February 1, 2026, involving a domestic violence/simple assault call.] Her father pulled Martin off her. She called the police. Martin went to Hudson County jail on an assault charge, and ICE took custody of him there on February 2.
She knew where he was and why. She told the country he was grabbed buying diapers.
Mechkowski also explains how her story kept changing.
Now Sacramento. Gurinder Gill told deputies ICE took his wife. ICE says it never touched the family. Her burned remains were found days before she was even reported missing. He's charged with her murder and held without bail. Charged, not convicted.
Patterns: Blame ICE and count on nobody verifying. When someone says they were “grabbed” there’s a record. To the media pull it before you print it.
"ICE Arrest During Diaper Run Upends Life for Kearny Family Wife Says," Cecilia Levine, Daily Voice, February 5, 2026.
"Punjabi Woman Found Murdered in California After Burned Remains Discovered; Husband Arrested," Mohit Kanna, Tribute India, October 18, 2026.
But Gabriela Soto wasn't just una mentirosa, she organized a whole narrative around the assault and arrest to cover for her husband. Mechkowski again,
Gabriela is not a bystander to this story. She organized the protests outside Delaney Hall. She ran the GoFundMe that passed $67,000. She wrote the column. She used Instagram to rally supporters and to hand them a phone script for the New Jersey attorney general’s office. Members of Congress now call her Gabby.
