Running head: Editorial Evaluation 1

Editorial Evaluation

City University of Seattle

Editorial Evaluation 2

Editorials represent opinion articles written by professional journalists, publishers

or editors of newspapers. When making editorials, writers enjoy great expressive freedom

and build arguments to persuade readers to think the same way they do. From this

perspective, editorials are ideal sources to promote critical thinking by presenting views on

different issues and analyzing how they are perceived. Given the important role of

editorials in the expression and construction of public opinion, there is a clear need for

readers to distinguish between facts and opinions, and determine which arguments they

can trust and those about which they should be skeptical. This paper aims to evaluate an

editorial article from the Editorial Board of USA today looking at the strengths and

weaknesses of the arguments presented. Excellent opening paragraph and statement of

purpose, Ana.

Is it fair that 80,000 immigrants in the United States should be deported if President

Donald Trump ends the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy? An editorial from

the USA Today website titled President Trump, leave DACA alone presents their view

about the issue. The main argument of the USA todays Editorial board is that 80,000

dreamers should not be deported because their parents brought them here illegally

(2017). The authors attempt to use an emotional appeal at the beginning of the article by

describing the situation of an actual immigrant, Jos Manuel Santoyo. They portrait him as

a defenseless man that knows nothing about the country he would be sent if Trumps

administration decides to deport him. After that, the authors assertively provide some

background information about the policy and the current position of President Trump.
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Moreover, the authors failed by writing hasty generalizations and hidden

assumptions about the dreamers in several arguments. For example, they claim that

deporting those immigrants would be disruptive to communities around the country and it

will hurt the U.S. economy because many of them have become small business owners, but

they never provide real statistics to support their argument and they assume all

immigrants are in the same conditions. Besides, this argument is somehow appealing to

fear by using the words disruptive and hurting to create fear in the readers so that they

support the DACA policy.

On the other hand, this editorial does a great job avoiding ambiguous language. It is

easy to read because they do not try to confuse the reader with complicated words.

Therefore, the article reflects what the authors think in a very clear and precise way. Also,

they presented a strong, logical argument, which is: Unlike other undocumented

immigrants, they did not make an affirmative decision to break the law. They merely

followed the instructions of parents in coming here. Many readers can agree with this

argument because they know it is true. Additionally, the authors provide facts with

statistics about the acceptance of immigrants among U.S. citizens from a poll by Morning

Consult. The poll found that 78% of the voters think dreamers should be allowed to stay,

with most saying they should be given also a path to citizenship. This kind of information

may persuade the reader to reconsider his or her own position about the issue.

In conclusion, this editorial provides adequate reasons to support the authors

conclusion, but some of the arguments presented are not entirely supported with evidence

and thus the reader might feel misinformed. Although the article does a good job staying
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away from common fallacies, some important remarks have been made and need to be

considered to form a personal opinion about the issue.

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References

Mayfield Marlys (2014). Thinking for yourself: Developing Critical Thinking Skills Through

Reading and Writing. 9th edition. Cengage Learning.

President Trump, leave DACA alone. [Editorial]. (2017, August 31). USA TODAY. Retrieved

from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/31/president-trump-

leave-daca-alone-editorials-debates/613855001/