The Media Continues Its Bias in Promoting Illegal Immigration

As a county executive who tried to take on the devastating impact of illegal immigration on Long Island, I was aghast at how biased the media coverage was of this issue. It was so distorted, in fact, that it compelled me to write my 2012 book Bias in the Media, which underscored how liberal reporters and editors slant the discussion by demonizing those opposed to illegal border crossing as being xenophobic bigots, while those promoting and supporting illegal immigration are praised as humanitarian champions of the underdog.

I thought that narrative would have changed once the caravans of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants started flooding over the border in the Obama administration.

Former President Donald Trump's policies successfully curtailed this previously uncontrolled flow of humanity through Mexico, but President Joe Biden's open border rhetoric is leading to a reformation of the caravans in the tens of thousands.

One would think that the resurrection of these massive border-busting events would be a dilemma for our nation. Not according to an article in Newsday titled: "New immigration era ahead. Advocates say they are glad Trump administration policies ending soon."

The author of the article, Anotio Planas, included quote after quote from immigration lawyers and illegal immigrant advocates pontificating about how cruel and inhumane the Trump administration was to immigrants, while expressing promise that an incoming Biden administration will cure these ills by making illegal immigration as easy and acceptable as it was in the pre-Trump era.

Planas highlights the statement of immigration lawyer Oliver Roche, who laments: "Being an immigration attorney under the Trump administration, you obviously felt the pain, the frustration, the aggravation, of your clients. By and large, what they did, was create an environment throughout the past four years, to really undermine the principles of refugee protection and the open-door immigration policy in this country."

Since when is an open border a virtuous aspect of domestic policy.

Planas discusses the asylum issue as though it is a Central or South American immigrant's right to live in the United States by merely making a general claim of asylum.

The fact that asylum laws have been remarkably distorted by coyotes and immigration lawyers who profit from the flow of illegal immigration is never referenced.

These laws were originally designed to protect political dissidents, such as those seeking protection from hostile (usually Marxist) regimes. The numbers were small enough so that if a person remained in the states pending the asylum hearing, it would not be unmanageable.

That completely changed when, in the Obama administration, coyotes started to flood the border with so many asylum-seekers that it overwhelmed the system. Instead of simply turning the immigrants around and requiring their application to be submitted outside the U.S. territory, which Trump required, Obama's minions released them into the heart of the nation. This became an economic and social nightmare for our country.

Planas then includes a quote from attorney George Teresakis, who claimed, "A lot of immigrant families have suffered needlessly under Trump."

According to Planas, the attorney not only assailed Trump's asylum regulations, "but also Trump's zero-tolerance policy, which targeted for deportation anyone who is living in the country illegally, even if they had no criminal background or it was limited to nonviolent offenses."

This implies any official who seeks to enforce immigration law is a pariah subject to scorn.

Then there is a quote from Yaritza Mendez, associate organizing director at the radical "Make the Road New York" advocacy group, who declared:

"It's time for undocumented immigrants to be recognized for the value they bring to this country."

Nowhere was there a quote from a group noting the cost amnesty will have on already overstretched systems such a Medicaid, Social Security and Social Services.

Just a short time ago it would've been disqualifying for a candidate to promote open borders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer once mocked a group that claimed the term "illegal alien" was racist. Hillary Clinton, then the junior senator from New York, vigorously opposed granting driver's licenses to those who are here illegally. Senator Bernie Sanders, who came inches from becoming the Democratic nominee, frequently warned of the negative impact illegal immigration has on suppressing wages. But that was then; this is now.

Today, the media's narrative, as clearly exemplified by this Newsday article, is one that blurs the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and depicts those Americans seeking to control the nation's borders as being intolerant bigots obsessed over the browning of America.

When the media refuses to present a balanced picture on this issue, there is no check or balance on the far left wing of the Democratic Party that has now succeeded in making open borders a mainstay of the Democratic platform and an inevitable policy that is about to soon be implemented.

To those Americans chagrined at the chaos to come, just remember: You get what you vote for!

Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of "The Steve Levy Radio Show." He is the author of "Solutions to America's Problems" and "Bias in the Media." www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, steve@commonsensestrategies.com. Read Steve Levy's Reports — More Here.