WaPo Changes the Title to Spin the Story

The title now says, Immigrants are going hungry so Trump won't deport them, but if you look at the URL, you can see the original, more factual, title:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/16/immigrants-are-now-canceling-their-food-stamps-for-fear-that-trump-will-deport-them/


So much spin! Did the WaPo get its inspiration from the Whirling Dervishes?

Eight paragraphs down the admit, "The evidence is still anecdotal — and The Washington Post was unable to speak directly with immigrants who chose to cancel their SNAP benefits." And the anecdotes they give are all about legal immigrants...then the put in a video about illegal immigrants undocumented immigrants. I'm not sure what's going on with that. It makes me suspect that the article originally, or at least was intended to, talk about illegal immigrants getting benefits but they changed the spin on it and no one thought to replace the video.

“This is a response to the climate of fear and terror that immigrant families are living in because of the Trump administration,” said Jackie Vimo, a policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center. “These are unfounded fears. But they’re based in this environment, and they’re very widespread.”

No, this is a response to news organizations and political activists trying to scare people. Did they react this way when President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996? That didn't allow legal immigrants to receive federal benefits for five years.

They do explain the illegal/legal question of where the benefits are going.

Undocumented immigrants are never eligible for food stamps, though they may live in a “mixed eligibility” household that does receive them. For instance, it’s not uncommon for undocumented parents to apply for assistance on behalf of their citizen children.

Obviously no one is going to be in favor of denying children food, but if the parents are undocumented, can they declare any income? Is there any way to find out if their income is low enough to qualify for assistance? Is there a way to check whether they are wiring money to relatives in their native country? Foreign remittances (money sent by people in the US to people in other countries) in 2012 were estimated at over $50 billion. The amount sent to Mexico is about $26 billion. How much of that is from people who are here illegally? If you have enough to send, you have enough to buy food for your child.