Monday, February 13, 2006

Value Neutral Reporting   posted by TangoMan @ 2/13/2006 08:34:00 PM
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Let's see if you can spot the bias (I'll give you a hint) in the following report on Immigration Reform published in Newsweek:


The Senate will debate three initiatives of a very different nature. First up is the so-called Sensenbrenner bill, already passed by the House of Representatives. Among other hateful features, the legislation seeks to build more than 1,000 kilometers of fences and walls along the U.S.-Mexican border, makes unauthorized entry into the United States a felony and penalizes anyone aiding or abetting illegal immigrants.

[ . . . . . ]

Five years ago, Mexican President Vicente Fox tried to convince George W. Bush that something had to be done about this situation before a conservative, perhaps even xenophobic backlash in the United States began to drastically complicate its relations with Latin America. For a series of reasons, no progress has been made since Fox's visit to Washington on the eve of September 11, 2001; in the meantime matters have, as Fox predicted, gotten much worse. Border tensions between the United States and Mexico have grown; Rep. James Sensenbrenner's wall has rightly provoked anger and indignation in Mexico and Central America, and more unauthorized immigrants than ever are entering the United States. . . . .

No immigration deal will be possible north of the border without addressing security matters; south of the border, none will win Mexican cooperation if it ignores the issue of the nearly 5 million Mexican citizens without papers in the United States. . . . .

Mexico has to assume responsibility for regulating this traffic, which means more than sealing off its southern border and arresting would-be emigrants.


So, first off, why would a US decision to regulate its own borders rightly provoke Mexican anger? The way this article reads you'd think that Mexico is being denied its rightful place at the table to decide what the US should do to protect its own national interests.

Does anyone else see the irony of Mexico securing its Southern borders by instituting procedures beyond sealing its borders and arresting emmigrants? I wonder if those measures might include a non-hateful wall?