Illegal Residence of Fort Dix Suspects Buried in WashPost

May 9th, 2007 11:25 AM

Three of the six Fort Dix terror suspects are in the United States illegally, so I thought I'd look at how three major metropolitan newspapers reported that fact in today's papers.

Looking through coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, I found that the first two put mention of the illegal immigration status of the Duka brothers one-quarter of the way through their respective articles, while the Post buried the mention more than halfway through the article, paragraph 14 out of 26 to be exact.

Here's how each paper reported the illegal status of three of the suspects:

Los Angeles Times (paragraphs 8-9 of 36)

The suspects include three brothers, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia: Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka.

[U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Christopher] Christie said they were living illegally in the United States and working at a roofing business in Cherry Hill.

New York Times (paragraph 7 of 28):

Mr. Duka, and two others, Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka — all three of whom are brothers — are in the United States illegally, Mr. Christie said.

Washington Post (paragraph 14 of 26):

Three defendants are ethnic Albanian brothers from the former Yugoslavia who operated a roofing business in Cherry Hill and lived in the United States illegally: Eljvir Duka, 23, Dritan Duka, 28, and Shain Duka, 26. A sixth defendant, Agron Abdullahu, 24, also an ethnic Albanian born in the former Yugoslavia, is charged with helping the Dukas illegally obtain firearms.