The Washington Post revised its story claiming there was “no migrant surge at the U.S. southern border” Thursday, now claiming that the spike was predictable, a combination of immigrations delayed by the pandemic and following normal seasonal patterns.
The initial headline of the piece read, “There’s no migrant ‘surge’ at the U.S. southern border. Here’s the data,” according to an archived version of the page. The revised headline of the piece now reads, “The migrant ‘surge’ at the U.S. southern border is actually a predictable pattern.”
The data cited in the original article was from February, and as such did not reflect the recent developments at the border, including the rising number of unaccompanied migrant children.
This analysis is based on last month’s data. It’s March 24.https://t.co/GYHtnviuyN
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) March 24, 2021
Despite the new headline stating the surge is predictable, the revised Thursday version of the article incorporates a new section dedicated to the issue of illegal border crossings by children. It notes that there is in fact a surge in unaccompanied minors unexplained so far by pandemic delays or seasonal trends. The authors now refer to the influx of unaccompanied children flooding the southern border as likely “more than” a seasonal pattern. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Here’s The Overcrowded Border Facility Everyone Is Talking About)
“This poses a more distinctive challenge for the Biden administration, although it is also possible that there will be a similar drop in crossings by minors during the summer months,” the revised article reads.
This is not the first case of revisions on politically significant pieces by the Washington Post. A Jan. 9 Washington Post article falsely stated that former President Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s lead elections investigator using the phrase “find the fraud.” The outlet issued a lengthy correction to the piece in early March.