IT’S ALL HOW YOU LOOK AT IT: Three different left-leaning media outlets reporting on the same year-end ICE report show that the Washington Post beats the competition at coming up with dramatic sounding but ultimately misleading headlines.
ICE Arrests and Deportations Drop Sharply in 2020, Largely Due to the Pandemic—CBS News.
US Immigration Arrests Down 27% in 2020—A Trend Activists Hope Biden Will Continue—Reuters.
Deportations of Migrant Families Spiked in 2020—Washington Post.
The “spike” that the Washington Post points to is actually good news no matter what one’s views on immigration law enforcement: ICE has entered into an agreement with Central American countries that allows it to verify quickly where illegal entrants are from, thus allowing for quick repatriation without the need for an extensive stay at an immigration detention center. One has to read well into the article before one learns that deportations are way down.
The original headline for Washington Post might have been something like “ICE Deportation Decline,” since that is what’s on the URL, but the “spike” headline is what’s there now.