There’s a certain technique often used by journalists, one designed to get you not thinking, but feeling. It involves opening an article with a human-interest story, and it’s figuring prominently right now with the illegal-migration controversy. It may go something like this:

Lupe entered the United States as a wide-eyed child from Mexico, having high hopes and dreaming bold dreams. Growing up in Arizona, she toiled as a maid to support her family. But using a false document to land a job resulted in a felony conviction, making Lupe ineligible for DACA; any path to legalization was closed to her. Now in her 30s, Lupe must endure the continuous fear of deportation. She has been robbed of opportunities her peers take for granted, such as driver’s licenses or college aid. Once a hard-working immigrant, Lupe is now an outcast, one of America’s modern-day lepers.

Of course, the idea is to engage your emotions and not your intellect. You’re supposed to identify with Lupe and not identify policy-specific imperatives. It’s not supposed to occur to you that Lupe isn’t an “immigrant,” as stated above, but a “migrant” at best. (The former term implies entry via a legal process.) You’re not supposed to think about illegal-alien crime and its many American victims. You’re not supposed to contemplate the strain on resources and infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals. You’re not supposed to wonder about how the billions of dollars illegals cost our system affect our ability to help fellow citizens, such as veterans. It’s not supposed to dawn on you that deportation isn’t punishment. As with children who’ve run away from home, it’s merely the returning of people to where they’re meant to be.

You’re not supposed to trouble over the cultural and political implications of absorbing millions of sometimes unassimilable aliens. No, you’re not supposed to consider facts, figures, realities, or statistics at all. You’re not to realize that making policy for 343 million people based on one person’s situation ignores that the “good of the many outweighs the good of the few.” You’re only supposed to identify with Lupe. You’re to be governed by your tears, not Truth; by what momentarily feels good, not what is good.

At website Border Hawk on Sunday, commentator Allan Wall warned of the sob story phenomenon. Emphasizing that we shouldn’t fall for the con, he writes:

After eight months back in the White House, President Donald Trump has deported 400,000 illegal aliens while 1.6 million have self-deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media churns out an unending stream of sob stories portraying sympathetic illegal aliens being arrested or deported.

The goal is to make Americans feel guilty about all this detention and deportation and thus wear down support for it.

Let’s look at the big picture.

It’s inevitable that sympathetic characters are getting caught up in this campaign. Our immigration system has been abused for decades, so shaking it up and putting it back in order was bound to make it difficult for some people.

Millions of Americans make bad choices and end up in jail or with bad health or in bad relationships or hooked on drugs or in otherwise dire straits.

But the media seems more interested in foreigners here illegally.

Wall’s point warrants elaboration. For example, we hear much about “family separation,” as if this is a uniquely illegal-alien phenomenon. If an American couple commits a crime, however — embezzlement, drug offenses, etc. — and goes to prison, guess what?

Their kids don’t go with them.

There is “family separation.” It happens every day.

The kicker: Illegals don’t actually have to endure this. When they’re deported, no one will prevent them from taking their children with them.

Wall also provides a quintessential example (below) of what we can call the heart-over-head (HoH) technique.

Hall concedes that this is tough on the wife and kids. This is just as it’s tough for American-citizen wives and kids when their American-citizen men are arrested for a crime. But there’s only one way to avoid all pain associated with legitimate law enforcement: have no law enforcement.

And, of course, this is precisely the goal of many illegal-alien advocates.

But as one X user writes, responding to the above tweet and echoing Wall:

Another respondent (below), waxing satirical, boiled the reaction we’re “supposed” to have to the tweet down to its bare essence.

Wall points out that none of this deportation drama is the end of the world. Illegals “can start over in their home countries,” he writes. But this is untrue.

They generally don’t have to “start over” because illegals usually make and often save money in the United States. In fact, they tend to send dollars back to their native countries. So they may return home starting on third base.

Wall then warns of the duration ploy. He cites the following Newsweek headline as an example: “ICE Deports Florida Pastor’s Wife After 30 Years in US.”

“This one combines the Many-Years Motif with the Christian Card,” Wall notes.

Now, let’s translate the message here. If you’ve gotten away with a crime for ages — if you’ve eluded the law for decades — good on you! A special dispensation is yours. But can we apply this to citizens, too, just to be fair?

“You robbed an armored car of 500K, Mr. Briggs. But, all the money is spent and, hey, you got away with it for 23 years. I wouldn’t dream of imprisoning a capable, resourceful fellow such as yourself!”

Wall also mentions a California man who complained that his two gardeners were detained by ICE. Yes, how dare we enforce the law and deny this wealthy man his cut-rate, illegal menial workers.

Then there’s Florida state Democratic representative Frederica Wilson responding to President Donald Trump’s ending of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. “Deporting Haitians back to Haiti is a kiss of death,” she claimed (tweet below).

This is “the same Rep. Wilson,” points out Wall, “who previously tweeted about the ‘rich culture of Haiti.’” What’s more, that nation’s population is 11.8 million.

If being there is the “kiss of death,” why isn’t the population 0?

But I’ll take a stab at her question. Haiti is unsafe for Americans because a Yankee tourist there is like Elon Musk walking down the street. A Haitian in Haiti is just another guy.

As for the HoH ploy, it’s perhaps especially distressing to me because I am by nature a straightforward person. I don’t like playing games. But I’ll indulge the technique, at least for a moment:

America entered the world as a bright-eyed republic. She offered hopes, dreams, and a unique Constitution to her people, who built her up with blood, sweat, and tears. But now she’s being invaded by millions, too many of whom just want to leech off her now-scarred body. America is dying, for want of love, lawfulness, and care.

Will you help her?