A report from The New York Times on an identity theft case in Minnesota created a public debate and sparked backlash from political figures like Vice President JD Vance. The report, which followed a man from Minnesota and an immigrant living in Missouri without proper documentation, highlighted the struggles the real Dan Kluver and Romeo Pérez-Bravo, who had been using Kluver’s social security number, faced.
In the report, The Times called the identity theft a “survival tactic” used by immigrants without proper authorization to continue living and working in the U.S. Conservative media outlets, including Fox News and The Blaze, questioned The Times’ framing of the story, saying the outlet was “sympathetic” towards Pérez-Bravo. Vance appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the story, saying that the report minimized the impacts on the real Kluver.
