CBS’s Madam Secretary is trying to convince us of so many things that might be true in the liberal world but not in the real one. First, it was about the massive damage that can be caused by fake news. Then, it was about the “truly heroic” status of the non-essential government employee. This week, we tackle the “virtually non-existent” crime rate of refugees.
In the October 29 episode “Shutdown,” Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) deals with the aftermath of a government shutdown which has led to the furloughs of her essential non-essential employees who work on everything from bringing donuts to meetings to being instrumental to stopping an Ebola outbreak in the United States (this is a serious plot point).
As she tries to make a statement on the subject, however, Madam Secretary is blindsided by a reporter who questions her position on refugees after a Honduran refugee named Rosa Salama murdered an American citizen. Soon the episode turns from the government shutdown to what the characters themselves refer to as a “right-wing refugee panic,” starting with a new ad.
Announcer: There’s a new threat to the American people. Elizabeth McCord and her team of Washington elites want to spend your tax dollars - "Washington elites." Bringing gangsters and criminals across our borders. She calls it "Refuge." But when they turn their weapons on us, Senator Carlos Morejon calls it what it is: Murder. It's time to send Globalist McCord a message: This land is our land.
Blake: I hate it when they give away the whole movie in the trailer.
Elizabeth: Jay?
Jay: I'm calling the FEC. That has to be a violation.
Elizabeth: It's Morejon's own pac. It's perfectly legal. He's still trying to justify the shutdown.
Jay: All you did was defend diplomacy and humanitarian aid.
Blake: We don't offer refuge to criminals. Rosa Salama fired in self-defense.
Elizabeth: Did I mention I hate politics?
Jay: What about a counter ad, okay?
Chloe: Hi, Dada!
Jay: Hi. Uh, citing... citing the crime rate for all refugees, which is virtually non-existent.
Elizabeth: Let's get the details of the case out there. We need positive, inspiring refugee stories. I mean, that can't be hard. Okay?
Blake: Your next interview's here. We'll get into it.
Elizabeth: Thanks, guys.
Jay: Hey, you! Come here, you little Washington elite.
Chloe: Daddy!
Elizabeth eventually finds the sympathetic refugee story through the owner of a toy manufacturing plant in Illinois who was inspired to employ a large percentage of Honduran refugees because his grandfather was helped as an immigrant. However, Senator Morejon (José Zúñiga) quickly turns it around in stereotypical right-wing fashion by complaining that the Secretary is simply bragging about “giving away the few manufacturing jobs left in this country to refugees from Honduras.” How is the morally upstanding political team going to get out of this one?
Why, through blackmail of course! Elizabeth’s group soon discovers that Morejon’s wife originally worked without a visa back in 1996, making her an illegal immigrant at the time. Lo and behold, with this information threatened to go public, our hypocritical senator then compromises with the president to end the shutdown.
Isn’t it funny how hypocrisy seems to be the only reason to act against liberal agendas rather than facts and policies in these kinds of shows? After all, it’s just inconceivable that refugees can, in fact, be behind a rise in crime or might not be properly vetted before being allowed to live in the county. The women in Cologne, Germany might disagree with these writers.
Fortunately, the government is open again where it can now be free to waste more money and streamline more migrants with a weak vetting system. I suppose in the world of Madam Secretary, this can be considered a victory.
