August 10, 2007

Julia Preston transcribes growers, others whining about "no match"

Julia Preston of the New York Times offers "Farmers Call Crackdown on Illegal Workers Unfair". Awww:

Facing the prospect of major layoffs of farmworkers during harvest season, growers and lawmakers from agricultural states spoke in dire terms yesterday about new measures by the Bush administration to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants.

In the rest of the article, she just lets the growers whine, without calling them on anything they say. It includes quotes from old favorites Luawanna Hallstrom and Maureen Torrey (participant in a call to the White House by the National Council of Agricultural Employers). Of note, Preston passes this along without any comment or without any hint that she questioned the statement:

Ms. Torrey warned that dairy cows would die from lack of milking if New York farmers had to fire immigrant dairy workers.

One wonders what outrageous allegation she would have had to make that would have resulted in Preston calling her on her BS. I've got a farmer who perhaps should get in touch with her.

Then:

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who has worked closely with growers, described the new enforcement as a "catastrophe... ...The crisis is that crops will not be harvested."

...Employers in low-wage industries were critical but guarded, reluctant to admit openly that they hire illegal immigrants. Randel K. Johnson, a vice president of the United States Chamber of Commerce, said the measures were "one more kick in the pants" for meat-packing, construction and health care companies that employ immigrant workers in unskilled jobs.

Shouldn't Preston try to press them on their employment of illegal workers? Shouldn't she look into even just one of their claims, rather than simply acting as a transcription service? Shouldn't she look into the links that Hallstrom has to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Torrey has to other politicians? Is she in any way a real reporter?

Posted to Immigration2007b at August 10, 2007 09:17 PM