Tag: news bias

Closing the Mexico border would be a logistical nightmare

The news article “Mexico border closing: Trump and US could face logistical nightmare if he follows through with threats” was posted on USA Today by John Fritze on April 3rd, 2019. According to the media bias fact check, USAToday falls under the left-center. This means that they are relatively balanced but slightly skewed left.

Like the first article, this news article focuses on President Trump’s threats to close and/or tariff the U.S – Mexico border. Unlike the other article, this article focuses on the glaringly negative effects that will come from closing the U.S – Mexico border. At the beginning of this article, it references the first time in U.S history that the U.S closed the Mexico border. This was right after John. F. Kennedy’s assassination. They did this as a precaution for the U.S direct national security. This caused bumper to bumper traffic at the U.S – Mexico border.

Similar to the J.F.K situation, President Trump wants to close the border for national security reasons. He states that closing the border could have an immediate impact on illegal immigration. On the other side, experts say that closing this border could have a massive impact on the economy. The article states “the move could disrupt more than 1.5 billion dollars in goods and hundred of thousands of people who cross the border legally everyday”. This is essentially saying that it could have an immediate negative impact on the American economy by the billions.

 

In my opinion, this article seems slightly skewed to the left and slightly biased because this article features a few key emotional words that may try to persuade a reader to agree with this type of article.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/03/donald-trump-faces-logistical-nightmare-closing-u-s-mexico-border/3337332002/

Closing the Mexico border

The news article “President Trump Just Abandoned His Threat To Close Down The U.S – Mexico Border” was on Time.com. It was published on April 3rd, 2019, by Jill Colvin. Time.com falls in the neutral side of the media bias chart, which means that there is minimal bias or a balance of bias.

This article refers to President Trump’s threat to close the U.S – Mexico border. In this article, it talks about how recently Trump has decided to take back his threat, but the notion of the threat is still important. So why would Trump close the U.S – Mexico border? Well, he says directly that the “loopholes within the U.S – Mexico border is a direct threat to national security” and he states that he will either completely close the border, or he will heavily tariff every car coming into the U.S from Mexico. He claims that this will “halt” illegal immigration into the United States.

President Trump refers to the border as a national “crisis”. He still proclaims that illegal immigration coming from Mexico is essentially a crisis, and it needs to be taken care of. He took back his original threat about closing the border completely because he thinks they won’t need to do that when the tariff on each car coming in will be a 25% tax. He states that a tax that high will stop anyone from coming in.

In my opinion, this article presents balanced bias. It offers a view from each side, with minimal “emotion” words. I believe that this is a genuinely good news article that anyone could read, and get an accurate and balanced information from.

 

http://time.com/5564974/trump-no-border-shut-down/

Article Summary 2

This article capitalizes on Trump’s statement that America is “closed” and “full,” unable to accept illegal immigrants any longer. The statement comes after Trump threatened to close the U.S.-Mexican border completely. In response, Mexico took legal action to close border crossings. The article continues to blame Democrats, often referring to them as “Dems,” and attributes the influx of immigrants to Dems “gaming the system.” The article fails, however, to provide specific examples of these claims. The article also continuously quotes Trump and his statements, saying, “They could stop them at the southern border, their southern border. And you look at what’s happening now. They pulled in fifteen hundred, one thousand five hundred yesterday they brought them back. They pulled in over a thousand the day before. Over a thousand the day before that today I haven’t gotten the number but I mean it’s a lot.”

While the article goes has several of these types of quotes, it fails to provide substantiated support behind Trump’s claims. Rather than providing any statistical evidence as to how America is “full,” the article claims that Trump’s actions are motivated solely by his desire for the safety of the American people, that illegal immigrants are somehow a danger to our way of life. However, Trump does not say that there is any stigma of fear behind his actions, but does say that it is due simply to the lack of space in detention centers. He gives no real reason for why immigrants are not welcome into America except for that detention centers are full.

Should States Have To Pay For Refugee Resettlement They Don’t Want

Tennessee makes its mark as the first state to tell the federal government that it can’t be forced to pay for the federal refugee resettlement program. It’s even suing them for its continuation of the program after the state withdrew from the program. Most costs fall to state taxpayers from the settlement, but they assert their right not to pay the state portion of the Medicaid bill for the refugees placed in Tennessee. Its General Assembly filed suit against the federal agencies responsible for the resettlement program over the right to enact the state’s annual budget without diverting Tenn Care funds to the federal government for refugees. However, the suit was dismissed on the grounds that the state legislature “lacked standing.”

When the act was passed, it was intended for the federal government alone to fund the program they created, but the costs shifted to state governments after Congress reduced funding for the refugee resettlement program. Regulations issued during the Clinton administration make it impossible for a state to stop paying program costs by withdrawing from the program, as in Tennessee, resulting in the state continuing to pay certain costs that were once the responsibility of the federal government. In 2016, after the Obama administration raised the annual refugee quota, more states asked to withdraw and sued the federal government in an effort to halt the planned large-scale Syrian resettlement. As of today, apart from Tennessee’s, there are no state refugee lawsuits are active today, as a result of Trump administration cuts to the refugee quota.

 

Article: https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/02/states-pay-refugee-resettlement-program-dont-want/

Refugee Employment at the Margins

In January, a parliament was ratified in Ethiopia, giving refugees rights, including the right to seek employment and education; Other countries should follow their footsteps by giving refugees better access to formal jobs and schooling, which would in turn also benefit host countries. According to the UNHCR, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a record of 68.5 million people worldwide, including 25.4 million refugees, have been forcibly moved as a result of persecution or generalized violence. Even though hosting large numbers of refugees is a challenge, there is increasing evidence of the economic benefits that the policies bring to the table. For example, Uganda’s Refugees Act of 2006 allowed them the right to work and access schools and hospitals, which stimulated economic growth by creating small businesses serving the wider community; Even going as far as to improve social integration and cohesion.

Evidence from the Center for Global Development indicates that giving refugees access to the formal labor market boosts growth, potentially creates new jobs for host-country citizens, and reduces reliance on aid. The UNESCO’s 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report emphasizes that migrants and refugees have skills that can help transform the economies and societies of both their host and home countries. The governments can start by allowing them to attend local community schools, which would give them a better understanding and appreciation for the local culture and would increase their chances of finding a job in the formal sector. Many are working to debunk the notion that refugees are a burden on host countries, when actually, it’s the opposite that is true.

 

Article: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/inclusive-refugee-policies-jobs-education-by-karen-meyer-1-and-peter-materu-2019-04

Article 1- Refugee Pay Loans

The news article “Welcome, Refugees. Now Pay Back your Travel Loans” was found on The New York Times. This article was written by Fabrice Robinet and was published on March 15, 2019. The New York Times is known to be a neutral but has a slightly skewing left leaning bias on the media bias chart.

This article recounts the details of what it is like for these families after they arrive to the US and having to pay the travel loans that allowed them to take a flight over. Many times the families have no way of being able to pay these loans back. the article states that, “The average loan per person is $1,100, and that amount can quickly increase when considering a full family.” Robinet writes about a particular family and what they went through to get to the United States, as well as the process afterwards. For example, her travel loan was more than $3,000 since she also brought her three children. It took her 4 years to pay it off.

A quote that stood out to me in the article was “… in 2017, refugees made over $66 million in loan repayments. Of that amount, a bit over $14 million went to the resettlement agencies.” This stood out to me because it blows my mind of how much money is taken from these refugees. They have done and given everything to be in this country. Although the resettlement agencies that claim they are just trying to help and the money is just a fee for administration costs and programming, which is supposed to continue to have the ability to help these refugees.

Article Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/nyregion/refugees-travel-loans.html

Article Summary #2

Fox News Article

 

My second article focuses on what happened in New Zealand but how the attacks on Donald Trump for being an inspiration to the killer, and the outlash against his behavior on the matter are wrong.

The man accused of the attack on the mosques in New Zealand stated that Donald Trump is a “symbol of renewed white identity…” while Trump made comments seeming to go with the accuser being innocent: “I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it. But I think it’s a horrible event…a horrible disgraceful thing and a horrible act.” However, the accused man of the New Zealand attack also stated Trump as a bad policy maker and leader.

The article then talks about how Trump has always been attacked for his views related to immigration constantly with the most notable being the border wall which he promised when running for president. Regarding the events in New Zealand, Trump took it upon himself to call the Prime Minster of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, and extend his condolences for what happening telling her the U.S. will do whatever it can to help.

The Democratic party still takes aim at Trump opposing his viewpoints on immigration, and for secretly supporting nationalists and the KKK. One of the last paragraphs takes about statistics relating to white nationalists stating that deaths by white supremacists have gone up from 37 to 50 from 2017 to 2018. Donald Trump views the situation as a small group of people doing some bad things, but not a major issue at the moment.

Article 1: Migrants in the Rio Grande Valley

The news article “Shelters And City Governments Scramble To Help Migrants In The Rio Grande Valley” was found on the National Public Radio, also known as, NPR. This article was written by Reynaldo Leanos Jr. and was published on April 7, 2019. NPR is known to be a neutral but slightly left leaning bias on the media bias chart.

This article recounts the details of having to help and accommodate the amount of migrants crossing over. The article states, “More than 76,000 people were apprehended or surrendered on the Southern border in February and administration officials project that number to surpass 100,000 for March. The highest number of crossings are taking place in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.”  The article provided a lot of factual information and it also had quotes from multiple sources who are in the Rio Grande Valley trying to help the migrants cross over. Leanos writes about the process that most migrants have to go through when they are are the valley. For example, migrants are brought to the Good Neighbor Settlement House, a homeless shelter in Brownsville, Texas,  for a short period of time and they can shower, eat, and get clean clothes.

A quote that stood out to me in the article was “… the real crisis isn’t with people asking for asylum, it’s with the immigration system itself.” This quote is resonating because that is the reason for why migrants are having a harder time with gaining asylum. Leanos states, “[In the past] a person could claim for asylum based on abuse of a violent spouse. Or because of violence inflicted by the gangs that are destabilizing much of Central America.” However, asylum-seekers are continuously coming across the border to gain abetter life in the United States and the people in the Rio Grande Valley will continue to help them.

 

Article 2: Issues with the Wall

Laura Parker talks about how the proposed wall at the border between Mexico and the United States. She opens the article discussing how walls are often built to keep people out, but many times it does not keep people from coming in. She focuses much of her article in the physical implications of building such a large wall. The wall would bisect several different eco-regions that are home to several endangered animals and plants. The wall would go right through seven different wildlife conservation areas. It will also reduce chances of survival for animals in general because they have less room to roam for food and they have not way to escape fires and floods.

It also could cause a lot of issues with flooding. She references a situation in 2008 in Southwest Arizona where a five miles long, fifteen foot high mesh fence cause flooding up to seven feet high. Other issues with water include the Rio Grande. This river changes path from time to time so creation of the wall would essentially give more land to Mexico and leave several groupings of people outside the wall even though they are American citizens.

Parker ends her article talking about how the construction of this wall would not be help to the same requirements and laws that exist. The wall would fall exempt from the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act because of the REAL ID Act which allows Homeland Security to bypass any laws in the name of national security.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/01/how-trump-us-mexico-border-wall-could-impact-environment-wildlife-water/

Article 1: Wall Advocacy

Debbie Lesko talks about her visit to the border between the United States and Mexico. She spoke with Customs and Border Protection about the challenges they have to deal with. They spoke about how it is much more than just illegal immigrants, it also includes illegal drug smuggling, human trafficking, and dangerous cartels.  When she asked the people working the border if they thought a wall would help, they felt that it would.

Lesko continues on that a wall would indeed help the issues because of the nature of a wall. She gives examples of other places in which wall has helped. She brings up the wall that was built in 2000 in Tucson, Arizona and how it decreased border arrests by 90% over the next fifteen years. In 2005 a wall was built in Yuma, Arizona where border arrests decreased by 95% over the next nine years.

She finishes her article by saying that it is going to take more than just a wall to make these issues go away, but the wall is the first step. The wall then needs to be accompanied by additional border patrol agents and enhanced technology to establish a respect for our border.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/18/we-need-build-u-s-mexico-border-wall-work-rep-lesko-editorial-debate/2355309002/