Seema Mehta outrageously lies (Los Angeles Times, Steve King, immigration)

Think Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times is credible? Consider this paragraph from one of her articles [1]:

Immigration reform legislation, which has cleared the Senate but is being debated in the House, was highlighted in the news in recent days because of a controversial statement made by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who said most children who are in the country illegally are marijuana traffickers, not valedictorians. Politicians on both sides of the aisle denounced his statements, including top leaders of the Republican Party.

That's an outrageously deceptive version of what King said. Speaking about illegal alien children, King said [2]:

"Some of them are valedictorians - and their parents brought them in. It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians. They weren't all brought in by their parents. For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds - and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act."

King didn't say "most children who are in the country illegally" are smugglers, as Seema Mehta claims. He was speaking of a small subset of illegal alien children - valedictorians - and saying there are 100 times as many acting as smugglers. His math is off, but Mehta's interpretation is completely false.

Please write @LATSeema and @LATreadersrep to request a correction.

UPDATE: On Twitter, Mehta seems to claim she didn't say what's in the article. So, I attached a screenshot, click the image for a larger version.

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[1] "L.A. town hall meeting exposes deep rift on immigration overhaul "
latimes . com/news/local/
la-me-0728-immigration-townhall-20130728,0,7788481.story

[2] newsmax . com/Newsfront/king-norquist-attacks-immigration/
2013/07/18/id/515882