New York Times Readers Blast Liberal Ideology

Even The Times Readers Know There's a Problem

If there were ten commandments of liberal beliefs, support for mass immigration and promoting gender transitioning on children would be among the top policy platforms, along with wearing masks while you’re driving alone in a car. Until recently, The New York Times has been a faithful and unquestioning cheerleader of both positions.

Yet two articles that questioned why so many illegals were coming across the border during Joe Biden’s presidency and highlighted the number of detransitioners opened up a rather interesting debate for Times subscribers. The only people who can comment on articles in The Times are people who subscribe to the paper.

In a recent article, reporter Miriam Jordan wrote that the main driver for illegal aliens coming to the U.S. is that they believe the government will not enforce the laws.

“Ms. Ortiz, 40, said she intended to apply for asylum based on violence in Colombia. Her chances of winning are slim, because violence alone typically does not meet the standard for persecution. Even so, she will be shielded from deportation while her claim is pending and will qualify for a work permit.

Underfunded immigration courts that adjudicate claims are strained by the swelling caseload, so applications languish for years, and all the while, migrants are building lives in the United States.

Ms. Ortiz, a nurse, said she had borrowed “millions,” in Colombian pesos (several thousand dollars) to pay the smugglers who brought her to the doorstep of the United States, a gap in the wall championed by former President Donald J. Trump. She waited two days in the cold, desert winds lashing her tent, for agents to come and take her.

When agents showed up, they transported Ms. Ortiz to a facility where she was given paperwork that said she had entered the country illegally, had been placed in deportation proceedings and must appear before an immigration judge.”

The court date was Feb. 19, 2026.

She was then released. In Ms. Ortiz’s mind, everything was going according to plan. “I wanted to do everything the right way,” she said, after arriving in Colorado a few days later. She had been assigned an “alien” number used to track immigration cases.

Most asylum claims are ultimately rejected. But even when that happens, years down the road, applicants are highly unlikely to be deported. With millions of people unlawfully in the country, U.S. deportation officers prioritize arresting and expelling people who have committed serious crimes and pose a threat to public safety.

New York Times subscribers surprisingly resisted the idea of open borders and Biden’s immigration policy. Here are some of the comments that received the highest number of recommendations.

A number stated the obvious that most of these migrants were not genuine asylum seekers and were becoming a significant drain on public services and the welfare state:

Others demanded that the U.S. take an aggressive approach to tackling the issue of illegal immigration, including a merit-based immigration system, mass deportations to discourage future illegal immigrants, safe third-country agreements, and fining businesses that hire illegal labor.

Most importantly, several Times subscribers predicted the situation at the border would not only hurt Biden’s re-election chances but also entice them to vote Republican.

Another article published in The Times, an opinion piece by Pamela Paul, told the story of young people who believed they were transgender when they were children. Medical experts and their parents dove head first into sexual reassignment surgery and hormone treatment, only for them to realize when they reached adulthood that they made a horrible mistake.

“When she was 15, Emerick confessed her homosexuality to her mother. Her mother attributed her sexual orientation to trauma — Emerick’s father was convicted of raping and assaulting her repeatedly when she was between the ages of 4 and 7 — but after catching Emerick texting with another girl at age 16, she took away her phone. When Emerick melted down, her mother admitted her to a psychiatric hospital. While there, Emerick told herself, “If I was a boy, none of this would have happened.”

In May 2017, Emerick began searching “gender” online and encountered trans advocacy websites. After realizing she could “pick the other side,” she told her mother, “I’m sick of being called a dyke and not a real girl.” If she were a man, she’d be free to pursue relationships with women.

That September, she and her mother met with a licensed professional counselor for the first of two 90-minute consultations. She told the counselor that she had wished to be a Boy Scout rather than a Girl Scout. She said she didn’t like being gay or a butch lesbian. She also told the counselor that she had suffered from anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. The clinic recommended testosterone, which was prescribed by a nearby L.G.B.T.Q. health clinic. Shortly thereafter, she was also diagnosed with A.D.H.D. She developed panic attacks. At age 17, she was cleared for a double mastectomy.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m having my breasts removed. I’m 17. I’m too young for this,’” she recalled. But she went ahead with the operation.

“Transition felt like a way to control something when I couldn’t control anything in my life,” Emerick explained. But after living as a trans man for five years, Emerick realized her mental health symptoms were only getting worse. In the fall of 2022, she came out as a detransitioner on Twitter and was immediately attacked. Transgender influencers told her she was bald and ugly. She received multiple threats.

“I thought my life was over,” she said. “I realized that I had lived a lie for over five years.”

Once again, subscribers to The New York Times did not have the expected reaction. Here are some of the most recommended comments: