Rep. Ted Poe Calls Out NY Times for Immigration Editorial

Texas Representative Ted Poe called out the New York Times in a letter to the editor published on Thursday. Last week, the paper published an editorial entitled “A Sense of Who We Are” painting a harsh criticism of the Bush Administration’s deportation policies.

In Rep. Poe’s letter, he pointed out one of the key facts to the illegal immigration debate.

Poe wrote: “Illegal status is not a circumstance that just materialized for illegal immigrants; they made conscious decisions to come here illegally or to violate their visa terms.”

In the Times editorial, the paper criticized the Bush Administration for splitting up families through deportations and preventing legal counsel for illegal aliens in deportation proceedings.

Poe responded to both arguments.
 

The editorial does not mention that families do not need to be separated by deportation; deportees can take their children with them when they depart. And because deportation proceedings are not criminal in nature, aliens do not have the fundamental right to a lawyer as criminal defendants do.