As if we needed one, here’s another item showing  bias in the way the mainstream media covers the controversial  Arizona illegal immigration law. Many major news organizations, including, MSNBC, CNN, and USA Today for example, covered a story about a group of Police Chiefs who met with A.G. Eric Holder to register their objections to the Arizona law.

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with about a dozen police chiefs today, including the top cops from Phoenix, Los Angeles and Houston, to discuss Arizona’s strict new immigration law.

The police chiefs told the attorney general the new law threatens to “drive a wedge” between their communities and law enforcement, according to the Associated Press. Police chiefs from Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Salt Like City and San Jose, Calif. will also attended today’s meeting with Holder.

NPR reports that the chiefs told Holder that having to determine whether a person is in the United States illegally will break down the trust that police have built in communities.

If that happens, “we will be unable to do our jobs,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. “Laws like this will actually increase crime, not decrease crime.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Tucson police chief Roberto Villaseñor as saying the Arizona  law:

“… will severely strain our resources. We doubt the federal government can even handle the number of people that we will bring to them now for verification on immigration status.”

Mr. Villaseñor also said lower violent- and property-crime rates in recent years are the result of community policing methods that would be damaged if immigrant communities are afraid of dealing with police officers.

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At first glance this all seems like a perfectly normal news story, but there was a very important piece of information left out: the meeting was arraigned by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the police chiefs attending the meeting were members of PERF. (Holder is an “old friend of PERF, he addressed their convention in April) . In the rare cases where a news organization mentioned the PERF connection (the NPR story referenced above is the only one I could find) they neglected to mention that PERF is an organization that objects to any enforcement of immigration laws directed at the illegal alien (as opposed to an employer who hires illegals). The Forum describes itself as a “national organization of progressive police executives.”

PERF is a national organization of progressive police executives from the largest city, county and state law enforcement agencies. PERF defines racially biased policing as “inappropriate consideration by law enforcement of race / ethnicity in deciding with whom and how to interview in an enforcement capacity.” PERF works with a diverse group of law enforcement officials, community activists, civil rights leaders and academics to set their standards and policies. These include the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California, ACLU of Maryland, International Union of Police Associations, Union Baptist Church, and numerous law enforcement executives, partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program.

If the reporters had done some legwork they would have found the group is not just against the Arizona law, it is against any enforcement of immigration laws. For example, last July the group protested the federal program that trains local police departments to get involved in enforcing immigration law:

The PERF summit attendees also criticized implementation of the federal “287(g)” program that has involved many police agencies in civil immigration enforcement, rather than focusing on the serious criminals it was intended to address. Their analysis bolstered a recent Police Foundation report, which found that “civil immigration enforcement by local police undermines their core public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases their exposure to liability and litigation, and exacerbates fear in our communities.

One amnesty summit was not enough for the Obama administration. About a month later, White House and Homeland Security officials joined about 100 police chiefs and administrators from across the United States at a “National Summit on Local Immigration Policies,” hosted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in Phoenix. During the closed-door meetings, the PERF Summit participants agreed that the U.S. needs a “comprehensive” new law, including an amnesty for illegal aliens.

An April 2010 article in the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Colorado Springs police Chief Richard Myers spoke at a PERF forum about immigration:

“It’s not our job to deal with all the social issues and the political/ philosophical aspects, but there needs to be some differentiation between criminal aliens and those who are here undocumented with no other criminal offense,” Myers said.

Somebody  ought to explain to Chief Myers,that if someone comes into the country illegally, that qualifies them as a criminal alien. And someone has to explain to the media, that giving half the story is just as biased as lying.

On second thought,  judging by their track record, I don’t think they care very much.