[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NEW YORK TIMES DOWNPLAYS THE TRUTH

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                            HON. LAMAR SMITH

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 6, 2009

  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Speaker, a new Pew survey has found that 
one-third of Mexican nationals would move to America, and more than 
half of them would come illegally, if they could.
  But when the New York Times reported on the study, the paper injected 
it with one of the most common forms of bias: they treat illegal status 
as a circumstance that just ``materialized'' for illegal immigrants.
  Instead of reporting that half of these individuals would come to the 
U.S. illegally, the Times said: ``more than half . . . would move even 
if they did not have legal immigration documents.''
  Apparently, the Times just can't bring themselves to use the word 
``illegal.'' In that case, why not downplay all illegal activity? The 
Times could refer to burglars as ``building inspectors,'' for example.
  The fact is that those who broke U.S. laws aren't just ``without 
documents;'' they are not entitled to documents. Downplaying that fact 
won't change it. And, even if the news media try to hide the truth, the 
American people know that illegal immigrants have broken the law.

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