You can hardly turn on Fox News lately without hearing the story of an ex-marine jailed in Mexico for bringing a gun into the country and whose parents are working to get him out. But Bill O’Reilly probably takes the cake for most arrogant and pompous coverage. Instead of “merely” advocating on the young prisoner’s behalf, O’Reilly apparently thinks he is captain of some kind of rescue mission and is issuing orders for Mexico. Oh yeah, and exploiting the jailed prisoner’s predicament for political purposes.

If you can look beyond O’Reilly’s (and Fox’s) self-serving ploys, one has to have sympathy for the young prisoner and his family. Here’s how Reuters describes what happened:

Jon Hammar, 27, was heading to Costa Rica to go surfing when he crossed into Matamoros, Mexico, from Brownsville, Texas, in a beat-up old Winnebago motor home he and a friend bought especially for the trip.

He had registered the shotgun with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on the U.S. side of the border, declaring he planned to take it with him into Mexico.

Despite being told that the shotgun, a Sear & Roebuck model that once belonged to his great-grandfather, posed no problem Hammar was arrested as soon as he crossed into Mexico. The arrest came when he tried to register the gun with Mexican customs officials, his parents and their Mexican attorney told Reuters.

“The crux of it is the length of the barrel,” said his mother, Olivia Hammar, 46, of Palmetto Bay, Florida. “There’s an old law on the books that says it can’t be under 25 inches,” she said. “It’s a 2-foot barrel and it can’t be under 25 inches ... . It’s strictly a technicality.”

But O’Reilly has fashioned himself Grand Arbitrator in the matter. Announcing that Hammar has been jailed under “bogus gun charges,” he added, “With Christmas just a week away, we are respectfully asking the Mexican government to release him on humanitarian grounds.” Asking "respectfully" now - and with threats later, as you'll see.

Next, it was on to a gratuitous swipe at the Obama administration. O’Reilly played a clip of Fox’s Ed Henry asking Press Secretary Jay Carney about the case and Carney saying he didn’t know about it. Sure enough, O’Reilly had a pronouncement about that, too. Forget all those issues like the fiscal cliff, the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre, Syria, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the debt ceiling. O’Reilly was outraged that this case was not up there with the rest of them.

“The fact that Mr. Carney doesn’t know about this story – VERY, VERY DISTURBING,” O’Reilly intoned. Heck, I think Captain O’Reilly even forgot about fighting defending the war on Christmas.

Next came Jon and Oliva Hammar, parents of the prisoner, to tell us “the latest.”

Jon Hammar Senior told us that he is optimistic that his son will be released next week.

Captain O’Reilly said, “So before Christmas is really what we want. We want him back in Florida before Christmas.”

O’Reilly interrupted Mrs. Hammar’s explanation of what happened to her son in order to give his own rundown of the important facts. He added, “The whole thing is bogus.”

Then he asked, “Which politicians have helped you the most?” As if that had anything to do with the plight of young Hammar.

Olivia Hammar said Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) as well as Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL).

But Captain O’Reilly never lost sight of his larger war. “But you haven’t heard from Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, or President Obama. As we just heard, the president’s spokesman doesn’t know anything about it. Does that discourage you?”

The Hammars were good little Fox foot soldiers. “It’s sort of shocking at this point,” Mrs. Hammar said. Her husband added that the “feedback” from the State Department is “more discouraging.” That ought to ensure them some more Fox bookings, though their best insurance would probably be to mention Hillary Clinton, potential 2016 Democratic nominee, by name, along with some unappealing tidbits.

But not to worry because Captain O'Reilly is on the case! “They told us they visited your son four times and they’re monitoring his case. But certainly they haven’t come out and asked for his release and Secretary of State Clinton hasn’t said anything.”

“They told us they can’t do anything,” Mr. Hammar said.

“That’s a bunch of bull,” Captain O. replied. “Certainly they can do something. Certainly President Obama can do something.”

That's when Captain O'Reilly issued his orders: “We’re going to give everybody a little breathing room for a few days. If they don’t do the right thing (and release Hammar by Christmas), there’s going to be hell to pay. And there will be. And we promise that, Mr. and Mrs. Hammar. We’ll get your son out of there one way or the other. Let’s do it the right way.  But if they don’t (he shook his head), all hell is going to break loose.”

I’m sure the fact Hammar is white and is jailed in a country Fox Newsies love to hate is just a coincidence. But it would be nice to see Fox show the same interest in the many other Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned right here at home. Even if they don’t conveniently advance a political agenda.