Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Mission . . . Possible

Most of us remember Mission Impossible with the catch phrase, “your mission should you choose to accept it.” Hold that thought! On 12/15/18 in my local newspaper there were two articles that dealt with illegal immigration. One was written by Gustavo Solis, presumably a local writer, and the other by Ron Nixon who writes for the N.Y. Times. The piece titled, “Activists Call On Democrats to Fund Border Wall” was written by Mr. Solis; let’s call this exhibit A. The other one was titled “Immigration Arrests, Deportations on the Rise” was written by Mr. Nixon; let’s call this exhibit B. One of these was on the front page and the other was on page 10. Similar to Mission Impossible, your mission should you choose to accept it, is to identify which story was on the front page and which was on page 10. I will do my best to summarize each.The subtitle of exhibit A was “Support for Trump’s plan at San Ysidro news conference.” (San Ysidro is the country’s busiest port of entry.) The news conference featured four “Angel Mothers,” women whose children have been killed by unauthorized immigrants or who died in accidents involving people who were in the country illegally. The mothers feel that a border wall would go a long way to protecting Americans from dangerous illegals. “If we do not do something now, how much further is this going to go,” said Catherine Hall from Colorado Springs. “My daughter was 18. She had dreams. She had a life.” One of the mother’s, Angie Morfin-Vargas, who son, Reuben, age 13, was killed by a gang member, described her meeting with candidate Trump. “He held my hand and told me that everything was going to be OK. I know that he is here to fight for the American people.”Several of the Angel Mothers, who had driven from as far as Colorado, said that Democratic politicians ignore their concerns. One of the spokes-persons for the group went so far as to call Democrats domestic enemies of the American people.
Exhibit B was the piece by Mr. Nixon of the N.Y. Times.  He noted that ICE said that it had arrested about 59,000 foreigners in fiscal 2018, an 11% increase over the year before. On 12/14 the agency apparently attributed this increase to Trump’s executive order that rescinded a prior policy that prioritized arrests and deportations to those with criminal records, or those who posed a threat to public safety. Mr. Nixon states that critics are unhappy that unauthorized immigrants who pose no security threat have been arrested for minor violations. In this article there was a number of quotes from Mary Bauer, deputy legal director of The Southern Poverty Law Center. She was quoted as saying that it is “appalling and morally unconscionable that this is the place that we find ourselves” – deporting people “without a sense of priorities.” Ms. Bauer added that under the Trump administration there has been a sense that officials are “looking for everyone,” and this has created “fear and terror” in immigrant communities. I have tried to be as objective as possible in describing the two articles. Since you have read everything thus far, I am assuming that you chose to accept the mission, and so you must answer these questions:

Did exhibit A or exhibit B appear on the front page?

 Which of these two articles was hidden on page 10?

Is there any doubt as to which side of the political spectrum my local paper falls?

Would you call their coverage “fair and balanced?”

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