Building the 51st: A note from Martin

Two weeks ago I reported on what looked like an uptick in immigration enforcement in D.C., with federal officers visiting restaurants to conduct documentation checks and also having been spotted near some D.C. schools. 

Early in the story I wrote, “There hasn't yet been a widespread immigration crackdown in the city,” a statement a reader thoughtfully took issue with. They said that from everything else I reported in the story, it did seem like there was, in fact, an immigration crackdown. And new data from last week (after we had published the story) seem to bear that out: 187 businesses were visited by immigration officers, and some 189 undocumented immigrants were arrested. 

I appreciate the feedback because it’s a great opportunity to try and demystify how reporting happens – and how it’s often hard to contextualize incidents and events when they are happening in real time. 

I started reporting the story from Monday into Wednesday, during which it seemed like there may be more smoke than fire. There were reports of restaurants being visited, but only a handful; similarly, rumors about ICE officers going near or into schools ended up being just that – rumors. (I scrambled to get to one school on two separate occasions when rumors of impending ICE raids flared up.) At the time it didn’t seem like a particularly widespread crackdown. Show of force, maybe? Yes. We published the story that Thursday with an assessment I felt was accurate.

Since then, of course, I’ve gotten the official numbers from ICE, and yes, agents were certainly active over the course of that week. Is it a crackdown? That’s of course subjective, but regardless, 189 immigration-related arrests in a single week is a spike from what usually happens in D.C. (I asked for more details, and was told that roughly 90% were immigration offenses, and only a handful actual criminal offenses.) And then there’s of course the impact on affected communities. For them, the mere presence of ICE could well feel like a crackdown, and I should have been more attentive to recognizing that.

Sometimes journalism feels like nailing Jell-o to a wall – the facts on the ground can awkwardly move as you’re trying to put pen to paper, making what feels like a decent judgment call at one moment seem painfully outdated at the next. This is even harder when rumors are flying, and as I was reporting the story, many were. We try our best to contextualize when we can, and focus on the impact on individuals instead of just numbers. Sometimes I think we do great, plenty of times we’re simply learning to do better. 

But we always appreciate your feedback, critiques, tips, and story ideas, and we hope to do more of this type of back and forth with you all so our thinking and process don't seem like they're being purposely hidden from view.