Columnist: Reckless journalism by Dobbs and O'Reilly bashes undocumented migrants

A new study has found widespread fear-mongering and reckless journalism by cable television hosts such as CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who have made a career of bashing Hispanic undocumented immigrants and their home countries, writes Andrew Oppenheimer in his Miami Herald column today.

"Likely Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told me in an interview last week that he shares concerns 'about the anti-immigrant tenor that I have seen in some of the broadcasts,' which are helping create a climate of hatred against Hispanics."

"The study by Media Matters Action Network, a watchdog group, says Dobbs, O'Reilly and CNN's Glenn Beck serve up steady anger, resentment and myths 'seemingly geared toward creating anti-immigrant hysteria.' "

"Among the myths perpetuated in these broadcasts are the notions that undocumented Hispanic immigrants are responsible for a crime wave in the United States, that they consume a disproportionate amount of social services and don't pay taxes, that Mexicans are somehow conspiring to take over the United States and that undocumented immigrants are bringing leprosy to the United States."

"In fact," Oppenheimer writes, ''the evidence strongly suggests that immigrants in general are LESS likely to commit crimes,' [the study] says. According to the latest Justice Department figures, non-citizen prisoners account for only 5.9 percent of the combined federal and state prisoner population -- much less than the estimated 11.7 percent of the U.S. population that came from other countries."

"On the issue of social services and taxes, Dobbs aired stories suggesting that undocumented immigrants are a drain on American society on 71 occasions last year, O'Reilly on eight occasions and Beck on 13, the study says. The other side of the argument received a token space in these broadcasts, if any."

"In fact, many studies show that undocumented immigrants contribute more to the country than what they cost. A recent report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that 'in aggregate and over the long term, revenues of all types generated by immigrants -- both legal and unauthorized -- exceed the cost of the services they use.' "

Read the whole column here.

Photo: Migrants flatten themselves to avoid being hit by tree branches as their freight train rolls through Chiapas in southern Mexico. Enrique learned several lessons about the state known to immigrants as "the beast." Among them: Trust no one in authority, and never ride alone. Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[roo7]

thanks for you

[NoMoreBlatherDotCom]

I realize the LAT isn't too hot on that ol' thinking thing, but:

1. I'm on the first page of search results for his name; perhaps the LAT could have done a search first to see a threat he made:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007210.html

2. Obama's been singing the same tune for a while, and lying:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007708.html

3. In the quote above, AO confuses raw numbers with a rate; even if we assume that the study is correct (not a good assumption considering who did the study), there will be additional crimes which could have been avoided. Does the LAT understand the difference, or are they just trying to help AO fool people?

4. Many other studies show a different economic impact. The way to solve the impass is to accept an average of the AO-friendly studies, then to point out that those studies ignore other costs, such as the cost of giving a foreign government even more power inside the U.S.