Elvira Arellano

It's not a scientific survey, but a recent poll of Chicago Tribune readers showed an overwhelming majority of readers support the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrant and Social Security fraudster Elvira Arellano. You'll recall I wrote about the Trib's bias on Monday.

The results of the four poll questions were published in an August 21 post at Eric Zorn's "Change of Subject" blog:

We asked chicagotribune.com readers for their views on the Elvira Arellano case. Here are the results after approximately 23,900 votes were registered:

Here's another file for the Elvira Arellano bias folder. The Los Angeles Times joined its Windy City sister publication the Chicago Tribune in describing the fugitive illegal immigration as an activist in an August 20 article, "Immigration activist deported to Mexico."

As in the Tribune write-up, Arellano's conviction for Social Security fraud was buried deep into the article (paragraph 11).

After giving Joseph Turner of the Federation for American Immigration Reform some token space to applaud the arrest and deportation, reporters Sonia Nazario and David Pierson devoted the rest of the article to a dispute amongst illegal immigration advocates about how far they should go in challenging federal authorities:

While a picture says a thousand words, certain words set the tone for news articles...a tactic the media is well aware of. Consider the following Reuters headline:

Mexican immigrant who sought U.S. sanctuary deported

An immigrant seeking sanctuary? Was she being politically persecuted in her homeland? Did she fear for her life? No. It turns out that Elvira Arellano was an illegal immigrant who hid out in a Chicago church over the past year, with the church offering her sanctuary. Arellano had a child here in the U.S., an anchor baby, and claimed she should not be deported because she had to stay and care for her son.

The first paragraph of the Reuters article continues:

"Activist arrested in L.A.: Deported to Tijuana, pastor says."

That's the headline for an August 20 Chicago Tribune story on convicted Social Security fraudster and serial border-jumper Elvira Arellano. Reporter Antonio Olivo mentioned the conviction, but deep in the article in the 14th paragraph:

Much of the anger from across the political spectrum surrounding illegal immigration has been crystallized by Arellano's story. After entering the country illegally twice, she became an activist shortly after she was arrested in 2002 during a federal sweep at O'Hare International Airport, where Arellano cleaned airplanes. She was later convicted of using a fake Social Security card.