An unironic April Fools' Day editorial on The New York Times' opinion pages took advantage of a pivotal unfolding moment in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to use it for the nonnovel purpose of lamenting that the nightmare of stopping illegal border crossing is a temporary reality:
Rounding up undocumented immigrants and shutting down the border is something President Trump has yearned to do since long before the coronavirus began its fateful spread.
It also provoked a robust backlash from its readers, who largely did not appreciate the Times' editors unfurling their fixation on increased immigration and erasing borders:
But all is not lost. One statement from the editorial left the door ajar for future credibility-building:
Tough times call for tough measures, to be sure, and the administration's anticipated order to turn back all asylum seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border illegally makes sense in the context of measures already taken to severely restrict movement across other American borders, land and sea.
We wonder what other "tough measures" the Times might begrudgingly support in the tough economic days to come.
ANDREW GOOD is the Director of the Media Standards Program for NumbersUSA
