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“Life imitates art” is a trite adage. But I’ve never heard “Life imitates joke.”
But that describes the New York Times. There’s an old joke:

G-d informs the leaders of the world’s nations that he will end the world tomorrow. The next day, the Wall Street Journal bears the headline, “World Ends Today, Market to Close Early.” The Jerusalem Post reads, “World Ends Today, Islamic Terrorism to End.” The Washington Post: “World to End, Women and Children Most Affected.” And the New York Times top headline: “World to End Today, Minorities Hardest Hit.”

Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Immigrants

And the text of the article is even more absurd:

HURON, Calif. – Some of the casualties of America’s housing bust are easy to spot up and down California’s Central Valley.
From Fresno to Sacramento, big tangles of wire and PVC pipes clutter vacant lots in silent subdivisions, waiting for houses to be built – some day. Dozens of “For Sale” signs already dot the lawns across new residential communities. And right next to the ubiquitous billboards from builders are fresh signs offering homeowners help to avoid foreclosure.
But another set of losers is less visible: the immigrant workers, mostly illegal, who rode the construction boom while it lasted and now find jobs on building sites few and far between.

So, there’s a housing slump in California, and rather than worry about Americans and how badly they are affected, we worry about lawbreakers who shouldn’t be here. Or rather, the New York Times–the “newspaper of record”–does.
Yup. New, updated punchline for the joke:

New York Times Headline: World Ends Today, Illegal Aliens, er . . . Undocumented Workers Hardest Hit.

(Runner Up: World Ends Today, Bush, Democrats Lament that Comprehensive Immigration Reform Not Attained.)