In the Obama administration, no one gets to deviate from the script including the so-called free press.

At the end of a long press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the White House, an irritated President Obama reluctantly fielded an unexpected question from The Washington Post’s David Nakamura who did the unthinkable and shouted out a non-approved query. Afterward, Obama scolded him for doing so.

The staffs of both the president and PM Renzi hand selected the questions beforehand, according to The Washington Times. As the press conference was wrapping up, Obama was speaking about illegal immigration. Nakamura posted his question, which is inaudible in the above video, to Twitter:

Obama retorted, “That’s what I just said, I said Central America they’ve increased, David. Why are you…” Obama was cut off as the reporter continued speaking.

“No,” Obama said, visibly agitated. “Actually, David, they spiked heavily in 2014, went down significantly in 2015, have gone back up this year in part because there’s still desperation in Central America. But are still not at the levels they were in 2014.”

Then with ruler firmly in hand, the president whacked Nakamura for speaking out of line:

“But I appreciate you shouting out a question, since I’m sure there are a lot of other colleagues of yours who would want to do the same.”

Nakamura was defended on Twitter:

As the Times notes:

Nearly 409,000 illegal immigrants were nabbed at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal 2016 — up from about 331,000 a year earlier. Homeland Security officials say the increased arrests also mean an increase in the number that are sneaking by them.

From Nakamura’s own report:

The number of families and unaccompanied minors arriving in 2016 is on pace to exceed the total in 2014, when U.S. Border Patrol stations were overwhelmed along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. They are coming primarily from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, an area sometimes called the Northern Triangle…

Overall, 122,132 families and children, mostly from Central America, have been apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico with a month remaining in fiscal 2016. That compares with a total of 132,259 in fiscal 2014, according to statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The renewed surge this year comes after a significant drop in 2015.