Student Journalism Contest: Bias Alert — Are Unauthorized Immigrants Hurting the American Economy?

This article was a winning submission of the 2025 AllSides Student Journalism Contest. 
By Samara Castro, Grade 12, California, Lean Left Bias

If you have been following any sort of news lately, you most likely have heard about Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) beginning their mission of “detecting and dismantling transnational criminal networks that target the American people and threaten our industries, organizations and financial systems” (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). However, there is a large disagreement on both sides as to whether unauthorized immigrants are actually a threat. Today, we will focus on how two opposing articles approach their stances on unauthorized immigrants in relation to the economy. By honing in on biases from both sources, we will approach an objective and comprehensive view on the issue.

Representing the Right is Fox News, and its article titled “The U.S. Job Market is Booming- Only If You're Here Illegally.” Fox News claims that unauthorized immigrants are taking money and jobs from citizens, “cheapening labor, and driving down wages.” This article was written during the Biden Administration.

Representing the Left is The Guardian, with its article “History Shows War Against Immigrants Will Backfire on All Americans.” The Guardian’s stance is that unauthorized immigrants boost the economy and provide opportunities for citizens to earn higher paying jobs. This article was written during the Trump Administration.

With both sides making opposite claims, we will need to take a deeper look into specific claims and data to see how their arguments are formed. In this quote, Fox News provides biased claims:

Fox News utilizes multiple spin words and phrases. An example of such language is “ruling class’s agenda;” Fox News is vaguely implying bad behavior without providing substantial evidence to back up its claim. The words “ruling class” are a method of insinuating that the American public has no control over their lives, while “agenda” suggests that the government (Biden Administration) had a secret, insidious plan. Fox News attempts to control the perception of unauthorized immigration to use as a weapon for intentionally harming U.S. citizens.

The Guardian additionally uses spin words, however, it argues a different perspective:

The Guardian paints President Trump in a negative light, choosing phrases such as “policy incoherence” and “damage he is prepared to inflict.” It makes similar claims as Fox News, except this time targeting the Trump Administration. The Guardian implies that Trump is purposefully targeting the economy in order to undermine the public.

However, The Guardian is heavily mind reading and making unsubstantiated claims. It gathers assumptions without basis in order to support their points, making claims such as “we can be reasonably confident that when the numbers are known,” and “the president will most likely be apoplectic.” Before the statistics are even presented, The Guardian is already attempting to report Trump’s reaction to these unknown numbers. Instead of using real data to back up their argument, it relies on these baseless assertions.

Another type of bias that Fox News demonstrates can be found in this quote:

Here, Fox News selects a specific story choice which supports its claim that unauthorized immigrants are taking jobs away from citizens. By bringing up the anecdote of the Democratic governor Hochul, and utilizing spin and polarizing words such as “illegal aliens” and “relaxing the typical requirements,” it is indicating that Democrats are intentionally allowing unauthorized immigrants to “infiltrate” the jobs market, taking opportunities without the proper skills required. It only includes a certain narrative that corroborates its argument, while choosing wording to support their point of view without considering both perspectives of the issue.

Likewise, The Guardian equally picks a story that supports its political ideology to bolster its claim that immigrants will create jobs, and if they were to leave the country, it would cause damage to the economy:

The Guardian specifically chooses an historical example that displays how the exclusion of unauthorized immigrants will lead to a decrease in labor productivity, without considering how this event may apply in a present day context. Additionally, it makes unsubstantiated claims by stating that immigrants are “the most productive farmers.” It doesn’t provide evidence to support its claim, and portrays the charge as if it were fact. Furthermore, The Guardian employs bias by omission. It groups together unauthorized and authorized immigrants into one category; the newspaper disregards how these populations may affect the economy in separate ways.

Both sources, Fox News and The Guardian, are biased toward their respective political sides, excluding perspectives from the opposite positions. It is essential to stay aware and be conscious of bias within media, especially when opinions are completely different.

Instead of using journalism as a way to divide a population and foster hostility, it should be employed to create a comprehension. Failure to do so will reinforce the audiences’ viewpoints, creating confirmation bias. Everyone has their own distinct opinions; instead of being obstinate, we should keep our thoughts flexible and be willing to learn.

Democracy depends on it.

Reviewed by Krystal Woodworth, Marketing Communications Manager (Lean Left bias), Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center bias) and Julie Mastrine, Director of Marketing & Media Bias Ratings (Lean Right bias)