ABC, CBS Skip ICE Report On 13,000 Murderers Loose In U.S.

Alex Christy
September 28th, 2024 2:00 PM

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On Friday, ICE revealed that it estimates there are roughly 13,000 non-citizen murderers running loose in the country, but only NBC found time to mention it on their Friday evening newscast. ABC and CBS, meanwhile, not only failed to cover it, but tried to spin the border situation as positive.

ABC White House correspondent Mary Bruce took the lead on Friday’s World News Tonight when she hyped Kamala Harris’s trip to the border, “Tonight, Harris promising if she's elected, she will add 1,500 more border agents and officers, crack down on fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking, and surge resources to the border. Much of this was included in the landmark bipartisan border security bill that Harris supported but that Donald Trump urged members of Congress to tank, just as the campaign was heating up.”

 

 

Bruce also hyped, “While apprehensions at the border hit a record high under the Biden administration, over 8 million. On the ground in Nogales, Arizona, Border Patrol telling us they've seen a notable difference since the president put new limits on asylum claims. Riding along with them on patrol, we get a firsthand look. Since President Biden enacted those new asylum restrictions back in June, they have seen a drastic decrease in the encounters along the border, 60 percent in this sector alone.”

Concluding her report, Bruce again promoted, “Harris here tonight is arguing that we can be a nation of laws and also a nation of immigrants. You don't have to choose between securing the border and creating an immigration system that is orderly and compassionate.”

The next day, fellow White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks told Good Morning America, “I mean, long gone, Whit, are the days Democrats talking about wanting to decriminalize the border. This was the toughest language we have maybe ever heard from a Democrat when it comes to the border.”

Parks also recalled, “I also talked to one immigration expert that gave Harris some credit for how she talked about fentanyl as a law enforcement issue, not an immigration issue. We know that the vast, vast majority of fentanyl is actually trafficked into this country by U.S. citizens at ports of entry. Harris talked about needing to crack down on that without blaming migrants, guys.”

On Friday’s CBS Evening News, White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe likewise painted the situation as under control, “foot traffic across the entire U.S.-Mexico border is down in recent months amid Mexican attempts to stop immigrants and the Biden administration's push to restrict asylum requests.”

O’Keefe’s colleague, Adam Yamaguchi, also reported, “While the numbers of illegal crossings has dropped significantly, it still isn't zero. People are still crossing over into the U.S. illegally on a daily basis.”

 

 

At the end of his report, O’Keefe did manage to play a clip of GOP Douglas, Arizona, Mayor Donald Huish claiming, “We need more of their involvement. It’s a federal issue, we need the federal government to take over the situation and not leave it on our doorstep.”

On CBS Saturday Morning, White House correspondent Willie James Inman also tried to play up Harris on immigration, “Kamala Harris said she'd put tougher executive authorities in place as president to slow the flow of migrants.”

Inman added, “While unlawful border crossings are at a four-year low, former President Trump has placed the blame for the situation at the border on the Biden administration, including Vice President Harris.”

Back on Friday at NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez was the exception and mentioned the numbers immediately, “Vice President Harris landing in Arizona for her first trip to the Southern border in three years and also facing new criticism from former President Trump after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement director sent a letter to lawmakers revealing more than 13,000 migrants previously convicted of homicide are currently free inside the U.S.”

 

 

The report also included that nearly 16,000 have been convicted of sexual assault and that there are over 425,000 criminals on ICE’s nondetailed docket of over 7 million.

Gutierrez, however, tried to shield Harris from at least some embarrassment, “A source familiar with the data tells NBC News, many entered the country prior to the Biden administration and that ICE lacks resources.”

After a digression for Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Gutierrez added, “Still crossings have dropped dramatically in recent months, and Harris is slamming Trump for killing a bipartisan border bill earlier this year.”

He concluded with two soundbites, one of a 2016 Trump supporter-turned Harris supporter who claimed Trump is “relying on fear” and another who claimed Biden and Harris’s initial reversal of Trump’s policies means that Harris’s current stances are “baloney. An absolute lie. She doesn't care about the border.”

The Saturday edition of Today was preempted by golf.

With ICE's report, maybe the media can stop pretending like illegal immigrant crime is no big deal, but that would require two of the three networks to acknowledge the report.

Here are transcripts for the September 27 and 28 shows:

ABC World News Tonight

9/27/2024

6:41 PM ET

MARY BRUCE: Vice President Kamala Harris touching down late today at the southern border to tackle one of her greatest vulnerabilities in this campaign, immigration. Harris traveling to the border in the key battleground of Arizona. She's been closing the gap on Donald Trump's lead on the economy. Now aiming to fight him on who would be most effective on border security, too. Tonight, the campaign with a new ad.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN AD NARRATOR: She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars, and she will secure our border.

BRUCE: Tonight, Harris promising if she's elected, she will add 1,500 more border agents and officers, crack down on fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking, and surge resources to the border. Much of this was included in the landmark bipartisan border security bill that Harris supported but that Donald Trump urged members of Congress to tank, just as the campaign was heating up.

KAMALA HARRIS: Donald Trump called up those folks and said, don't put that bill on the floor for a vote. He blocked the bill, and you know why? Because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.

BRUCE: While apprehensions at the border hit a record high under the Biden administration, over 8 million. On the ground in Nogales, Arizona, Border Patrol telling us they've seen a notable difference since the president put new limits on asylum claims. Riding along with them on patrol, we get a firsthand look.

Since President Biden enacted those new asylum restrictions back in June, they have seen a drastic decrease in the encounters along the border, 60 percent in this sector alone. 

But Trump, well aware polls show immigration is a winning issue for him, has tried to pin the situation on the border squarely on Harris, and he's promising an aggressive crackdown.

DONALD TRUMP:  We will close the border. We will stop the invasion. We will begin the largest deportation operation in American history.

BRUCE: David, Harris here tonight is arguing that we can be a nation of laws and also a nation of immigrants. You don't have to choose between securing the border and creating animmigration system that is orderly and compassionate. David, she's trying to do both.

***

ABC Good Morning America

9/28/2024

7:41 AM ET

MARYALICE PARKS: Yeah, wow, what an evolution we heard from the vice president yesterday on this issue. I mean, long gone, Whit, are the days Democrats talking about wanting to decriminalize the border. This was the toughest language we have maybe ever heard from a Democrat when it comes to the border. I mean, Harris said she will pursue severe criminal charges against repeat violators who cross the border unlawfully, she said if someone does not make an asylum request at a legal port of entry, but crosses unlawfully they will be barred from receiving asylum, period. 

Now, that is the direction that this administration has been going but she went even further than President Biden. I think it's a sign of, you know, a changing time, a changing reality on the ground, but also changing politics. Even Democrats wanting more order on the Southern border. 

You know, a lot of Democrats I talked to said she seems more authentically herself when she delivers tough talk and talks about herself a prosecutor. They liked that she blasted Trump for some of his immigration policy proposals and things that he did in the past when he was in the White House. Family separation, detaining families, I mean, those were policies hugely unpopular and last I’ll say, really quickly, I also talked to one immigration expert that gave Harris some credit for how she talked about fentanyl as a law enforcement issue, not an immigration issue. 

We know that the vast, vast majority of fentanyl is actually trafficked into this country by U.S. citizens at ports of entry. Harris talked about needing to crack down on that without blaming migrants, guys.

***

CBS Evening News

9/27/2024

ED O’KEEFE: Vice President Harris in Arizona tonight for just her second visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking office is hoping to cut into former president Donald Trump's lead on the immigration issue. She’s vowing to keep in place a recent Biden administration crackdown on asylum requests, and has promoted herself as tough on cross-border crime.

KAMALA HARRIS: So I'm the only person on the stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings.

DONALD TRUMP: She didn't go there for four years, now, today she shows up.

O’KEEFE: Trump, who's attacked Harris repeatedly on immigration, knows Arizona is key to victory in November. He lost here to President Biden four years ago by just 11,000 votes.

TRUMP: And we will close the border. We will stop the invasion. We will begin the largest deportation operation in American history, and we have no choice.

O’KEEFE: This stretch of border in Arizona accounts for just a small percentage of legal crossings and apprehensions and foot traffic across the entire U.S.-Mexico border is down in recent months amid Mexican attempts to stop immigrants and the Biden administration's push to restrict asylum requests.

Here’s what CBS's Adam Yamaguchi found this week along the Texas-Mexico border.

ADAM YAMAGUCHI: While the numbers of illegal crossings has dropped significantly, it still isn't zero. People are still crossing over into the U.S. illegally on a daily basis. Welre just on the other side of Eagle Pass, Texas, which just a few months ago there were thousands, 3,000 to 4,000 people trying to cross the river over into the U.S. every single day.

So then you think the numbers will go back up at some point?

MAN: [Speaks Spanish].

O’KEEFE: Despite slower traffic, here in Douglas, Arizona, the Republican mayor tells us more enforcement help is needed.

DONALD HUISH: We need more of their involvement. It’s a federal issue, we need the federal government to take over the situation and not leave it on our doorstep.

***

WILLIE JAMES INMAN: After touring the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, Vice President Kamala Harris said she'd put tougher executive authorities in place as president to slow the flow of migrants.

KAMALA HARRIS: I will do more to secure our border. To reduce illegal border crossings. I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry.

INMAN: A campaign official told CBS News that Harris would keep the administration asylum restrictions and make it harder to remove the policy. Harris also said she would work to get more resources for the Border Patrol and make fighting illicit fentanyl a top priority.

HARRIS: I will surge support to law enforcement agencies on the front lines, more personnel, more training, and more technology.

INMAN: While unlawful border crossings are at a four-year low, former President Trump has placed the blame for the situation at the border on the Biden administration, including Vice President Harris.

DONALD TRUMP: Our border is open. Our border is open. Nobody can believe it.

INMAN: Democrats have blasted Trump for publicly urging Republicans not to support a bipartisan security bill that was announced earlier this year.

TRUMP: Let me tell you, number one, I didn't stop it. The senators stopped it. But that's the worst bill ever drawn. It's a waste of paper, and she doesn't need a bill.

***

NBC Nightly News

9/27/2024

7:06 PM ET

GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, Vice President Harris landing in Arizona for her first trip to the Southern border in three years and also facing new criticism from former President Trump after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement director sent a letter to lawmakers revealing more than 13,000 migrants previously convicted of homicide are currently free inside the U.S.

DONALD TRUMP: And I've been saying this from the beginning of the Harris-Biden disaster. [jump cut] What they've done to our country with this is inexcusable.

GUTIERREZ: A source familiar with the data tells NBC News, many entered the country prior to the Biden administration and that ICE lacks resources to find them. All of it after Trump earlier today met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

TRUMP: A great honor to have you. Thank you very much.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Thanks so much. Thanks so much.

GUTIERREZ: Trump calling it a great meeting.

TRUMP: I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin [jump cut] I think that we can work out something that is good for both sides.

GUTIERREZ: Meanwhile, here in rural Cochise County, Arizona, a senior campaign official says Harris will propose tighter asylum restrictions than President Biden. There's been a record 10 million illegal border crossings since Harris and President Biden took office.

KAMALA HARRIS: We do have a broken immigration system, and it needs to be fixed.

GUTIERREZ: Still crossings have dropped dramatically in recent months, and Harris is slamming Trump for killing a bipartisan border bill earlier this year.

GUTIERREZ: How frustrating was that for you?

DANIA ACOSTA: Absolutely frustrating.

GUTIERREZ: Harris supporter and former sheriff's deputy Dania Acosta voted for Trump in 2016 but now says he's relying on fear.

ACOSTA: That's really sad that people are being used as pawns for political reasons.

GUTIERREZ: This has been in your family for more than 100 years.

JOHN LADD: 128.

GUTIERREZ: Though, rancher John Ladd says the Biden-Harris administration should never have ended Trump's restrictive border policies.

LADD: Trump had it figured out.

GUTIERREZ: Ladd took us to a border fence constructed during the Trump administration showing us where smugglers have cut it repeatedly, he’s skeptical of Harris's promise to support the border.

LADD: That's baloney. An absolute lie. She doesn't care about the border.

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