Kerby Anderson
Americans have been concerned about immigration, and particularly about the lack of border security. I wondered how the mainstream media would try to deflect the issue.
The New York Times published a report with the headline, “In JD Vance’s Backyard, Conspiracy Theories About Migrants and Voting Abound.” The headline of a Washington Post report proclaims that “Republicans Flood TV with Misleading Ads about Immigration, Border.”
In a recent commentary, Rich Lowry explains “all of this represents is not so much fact-checking by the press as narrative-policing — certain facts and opinions are deemed false, or conspiracy theories based merely on their political inconvenience.”
Are illegal immigrants voting? Even the New York Times article admits that they are voting in local elections in mostly deep-blue areas. Officials argue they should be allowed to vote because they pay taxes.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see how that argument will be used to expand the voting franchise. In fact, the left-wing Center for American Progress argues that “a pathway to citizenship . . . is the only way to maintain electoral strength in the future.”
The Washington Post article complains that political ads create “a false impression that migrants are flooding unchecked into the United States.” Rich Lowry asks: “A false impression? What would it take to convince the Post that migrants are flooding into the country?”
The article also criticizes another political ad that mentions terrorists and prostitution. Rich Lowry points to the established fact that terrorists have been crossing the border, and women have been sex-trafficked across the border.
Concerns about immigration and border security aren’t conspiracy theories but well-documented facts.