Undocumented Pyrotechnician
By: John Derbyshire
The Corner
In New York City, Daniel Ignacio has been charged with deliberately setting a fire that killed five people. Mr. Ignacio, a native of Guatemala, is in this country illegally. He has in fact already been deported once, but came back in. (It's not as though it's difficult.)
How did the local press deal with Mr. Ignacio's immigration non-status? On tippy-toe, that's how. The New York Times ran a 1,030-word piece that has "illegally" at word number 726. Newsday ran to 362 words, with "illegally" at no. 305. The Daily News describes Ignacio as a "day laborer" in its 711-word piece, but mentions the 2003 deportation at word no. 586. Wierdest of all was America's Newspaper of Record, which used the dreaded i-word in the subhead to its story, but put it in scare quotes. They guy's residence in the U.S. is not illegal, see, only "illegal."
On the whole, though, this is encouraging. So far I haven't seen a news report calling Mr. Ignacio "undocumented." Perhaps that bit of silliness, at least, has finally been laughed out of existence.
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