April 27, 2007

Anna Gorman/LAT: sob story to support illegal alien amnesty

Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times offers the Page 1 story "A family's painful split decision". Over four pages she tells the tale of two long-term illegal aliens (Abel Munoz and Zulma Miranda) who had three children in the U.S. They originally entered with a temporary visa, which they overstayed. They apparently took bad legal advice and tried to correct their status, but were eventually ordered deported. They say they didn't receive the notice. Then, one day ICE came to the door and they were forced to choose; they decided to move to Tijuana and leave the kids here. The case is similar to this other case that was whined about by another reporter.

The tale ends near this:

"Look at that sweater — it is half a sweater," [Munoz] said. "We can't even afford a whole sweater."

That follows the news that they own a $300,000 home. And, it follows Gorman glossing over various forms of illegal activity: overstaying a visa and "using a fake green card and Social Security number to get work when he first arrived in the country, and working as an electrician without a license."

Obviously, this is just a sob story designed to appeal to those who a susceptible to such techniques. And, just as obviously, if the "reform" that the Los Angeles Times supports passes, people like Gorman are still going to be out there, and there's almost no chance that they're going to take the pledge to stop featuring such sob stories. In fact, if "reform" passed, it probably would only be a few weeks before the various sob stories start designed to weaken the "reform". Those who support "reform" have shown their hands: what they're really after is a massive, continuing legalization program where anyone who makes it over the border and manages to stay here for a while gets to stay permanently.

Posted to Immigration2007a at April 27, 2007 04:27 PM