Byko: When news is false, unfair and just plain wrong

TO HAVE A fair debate on an issue, we have to agree on terms, and although we get to have our own opinion, we don't get our own facts, or so goes the cliché.

Philadelphia State Rep. Martina White just introduced a bill aimed at sanctuary cities, such as Philadelphia, which shield illegal immigrants, including felons, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The bill has been misreported, and White has been excoriated, even though almost two-thirds of Americans want sanctuary cities punished, according to a July 2015 poll by Rasmussen Reports. That poll, curiously, is just about invisible on mainstream news and liberal platforms.

A KYW 1060 NewsRadio online report Monday was headlined "Philadelphia In Crosshairs Of Anti-Immigration Bills." One tag used was "anti immigrant."

That was false, unfair, and just plain wrong.

White's and companion bills are "anti-illegal immigrant," a difference that coddlers of the undocumented wish to obliterate.

White's bill would hold sanctuary cities "liable for damages" to people or property resulting from "criminal activity by an unauthorized alien" if convicted.

That means, for example, that Philadelphia would be on the hook to pay for the personal and financial damage done by an undocumented person driving a car - illegally, because such persons can't get driver's licenses.

Does the freshman Republican from the Northeast want to put her city in financial jeopardy?

No, White told me. The purpose of the bill is to force "Philadelphia to reconsider being a sanctuary city and drawing criminals to our community." The bill has zero effect on those here legally.

It would be the city leaders "costing the city money," said White. "It's their choice."

Contemptuous of federal law that requires cooperation with ICE, as he has been for years, Mayor Kenney refuses to change the city's sanctuary status. He's a lawmaker who's a lawbreaker.

The first paragraph of the online KYW story accurately described the bills as "aimed at discouraging illegal immigration." By the third paragraph, it morphed into "anti-immigrant legislation."

I expect KYW to be better than that. I also expect better of the Daily News and the Inquirer, where I have seen the same failure, conscious or not, meshing legal and illegal immigration. In recent years I have seen many news outlets depict attempts to stop illegal immigration as efforts to stop "immigration." That is false, unfair, and just plain wrong.

KYW reporter Pat Loeb told me she recognizes a difference between "illegal" and "legal," but sometimes reduces "illegal immigration" to "immigration" because of time constraints. "I think it is a common shortcut that people use," she said. It is common - and it is wrong.

The Spanish-language newspaper Al Dia attacked White, claiming she cited a "hate group" in her remarks.

The headline on Sabrina Vourvoulias' column correctly called the bill "anti-sanctuary city." True, fair, and correct. With "fair" disposed of, Vourvoulias then served up so many red herrings she could open a fish market.

The "hate group" mentioned is the Federation for American Immigration Reform - with which I am familiar - as well as the group making the "hate" accusation, the Southern Poverty Law Center. I have been a supporter and contributor to SPLC since 1996.

In recent years, SPLC has referred to anyone favoring limiting immigration in any way as "hate" and using "legal" and "illegal" interchangeably, if "illegal" was used at all.

SPLC's ideology makes it an untrustworthy source.

For its part, FAIR believes that we have too many legal immigrants, and that immigration should, for economic and social reasons, be curtailed. Vourvoulias went on a lengthy anti-FAIR diatribe alluding to FAIR's "ties" to "eugenicists." Interestingly, that is the same smear tactic used by right-wing groups against Planned Parenthood and its founder, Margaret Sanger.

I deeply disagree with FAIR on legal immigration, but calling it "hate" is false, unfair, and just plain wrong.

White deserves better, and so do you.

stubyko@phillynews.com

215-854-5977N>@StuBykofsky

Blog: ph.ly/Byko

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